


Resident Evil 2

by Funrewrites



Series: Resident Evil: Reworked [1]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, F/M, Making the game cohesive, Slow Burn, Zombies, but combines both paths, follows the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 67,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25477357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Funrewrites/pseuds/Funrewrites
Summary: Aurora Harris didn’t know how the day escalated so fast. One minute she’s on the way to her sisters wedding, and the next she nearly died three times. She could blame it on trusting a stranger, but that stranger is the reason why she survived those near deaths. All she knew, was that if she somehow made it out alive, she was never going to become a scientist.Re2 rewrite to make the story more cohesive
Relationships: Claire Redfield & Original Character(s), Leon S. Kennedy & Claire Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy/Original Character(s), Leon S. Kennedy/Original Female Character(s), Leon S. Kennedy/Reader, Sherry Birkin & Claire Redfield, Sherry Birkin & Leon S. Kennedy, Sherry Birkin & Original Character(s)
Series: Resident Evil: Reworked [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000776
Comments: 23
Kudos: 34





	1. Ride From a Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> I know what you’re thinking, another character insert into the resident Evil games. But this one is pretty different than the ones I read. There’s some changes and tweaks to the story I hope you all like

**September 29th, 1998**

Boy, I've been watching you like the hawk in the sky  
That fly and you were my prey (my prey)  
Boy, I promise you if we keep bumpin' heads  
I know that one of these days (days)  
We gon' hook it up while we talk on the phone  
But see, I don't know if that's good  
I've been holdin' back this secret from you

Aurora Harris sighed as another car that wasn't a tow truck drove pass her. It's been over an hour and still no sign from the tow truck triple A was supposed to send her way. Checking the time on her phone, she sighed. She's been trying to get into contact with her family to see if any of them had time to come pick her up, but each call went straight to voice mail. You would think that having 4 siblings, at least one of them would pick up their phone. She wasn't even that far from the city. At most, she was about an hour and a half away by car.

Sucking her teeth with a groan, Aurora looked up at the sky. The clouds were getting dark, and the smell of rain was starting to become more apparent. The sun was almost gone from the sky, and soon she would be left in the dark and the rain. Groaning louder she leaned back against the hood of her car.

"Umm, excuse me." Looking up Aurora raised an eyebrow at the guy waving out of his car window, "do you need any help?"

"Uhh yeah," Aurora sat up quickly, "yes I do"

"Well I'm heading to raccoon city, do you want a ride?"

"Yes, I'm actually headed that way myself"

"Okay, hop in"

Without thinking much about it, Aurora sighed in relief. Quickly sliding off the hood of her car she turned it off, placing her Keys in her pants while she went to grab her bags. Putting the bags in the back seat, Aurora took her place in the passenger seat.

"Thank you so much"

"No problem," the man smiled and drove off. "I'm Leon by the way"

"Aurora, and I know this may seem weird since I'm already in your car now, but I have to ask, you're not a rapist murderer are you?"

"No," Leon laughed, "I'm actually quite the opposite, I'm a cop"

"Oh," Aurora blinked as she looked him over, "you look way to young to be a cop"

"Its my first day on the job actually”

"Congratulations"

"Thanks. " Leon smiled, "What about you, why are you headed to raccoon city?"

"My sister is getting married. I was supposed to be there yesterday but she was being annoying so I left a day late"

"Well what do you know, we're just a pair of late birds aren't we"

"You're late on your first day?" Aurora laughed

As they drove the two made small talk over the radio and their music taste. Aurora was more of a pop and r&b type of person, while Leon was more of a rock and country type of person. Aurora gagged. She wasn't particularly fond of country. Leon mocked offense at her reaction and the two argued over the best genre of music.

As the road got darker it started to rain. Turning on the windshield wipers, Leon noticed his gas tank running low. "Is it okay if I stop for gas"

"Why would I have a problem with that," Aurora smirked, "when you go inside, get me some ketchup chips"

"That sounds disgusting"

"But it's actually delicious"

As Leon pulled up to the gas station Aurora took out her phone. She was only on 15% and tried one last time to get some type of connection to her family. As expected, the call went straight to voicemail. Sighing, Aurora sat back. Her eldest sister Adora is getting married to her childhood sweetheart in 2 weeks. Aurora had no problem with her sister or her fiancé, but when Adora demanded that she show up two weeks prior to the wedding and continuously called her to day in and day out, Aurora expected that her sister would have some type of courtesy to pick up when she called.

As she checked her appearance in the side mirror, something banged against the car making Aurora jump. Her heart thumped in her chest as the banging continued. Fumbling around in the car, she managed to turn on the inside light, hoping to atleast get a glimpse of whoever it was that kept banging on the car door. As she peaked closer it banged against the window again. As she was able to press against the window, it's face banged against the window. Screaming aurora crawled backwards into the drivers seat.

Her screaming must have triggered something because the banging against the car became excessive, as if there was more than one person banging. As the car started to shake, Aurora made the move to get out of the car before the glass on the windows break or the car tips over. As she opened the door, It was slammed shut as someone ran into the car door, causing Aurora to fall back into her seat.

"What the hell is going on," Aurora yelled as she forcefully pushed the door open. The person fell to the ground as Aurora got out of the car and ran towards the gas station where Leon entered. As she pushed open the door, she froze as Leon pointed a gun at her face. "Don't shoot!"

"Get down!"

Aurora ducked down just as Leon shot his gun. Aurora's eyes widened as she heard it hit something behind her. "Holy shit," she whispered as she looked behind her to see a dead man On the ground. "Holy shit"

"You alright?" Leon asked as he helped her up

"Yeah I think so," she breathed as she looked down at the person Leon shot. It didn't look human at all. "Thank you"

"Thank me later, when we're safe." Leon breaths as groaning and moaning could be heard. He jerks his chin, gesturing to the parking lot. Aurora whips her head back around to see a wave of zombies scrambling towards them.

"Holy shit!" Aurora cries as she scans the wall of dead. Suddenly a growling scream and a bang makes her jump as a grotesque face presses against the windowed door of the market. She let out a scream, then turned back to the shambling hoard. "What are we going to do," she cried

"Come on!" Leon said as he grabbed her hand and started to run. He ducks and dodges the pack with Aurora in tow as he ran towards the abandoned sheriffs car. Pushing Aurora in, he closes the door before running to the passenger side.

Leon starts the engine before the doors are shut. It rumbles to life and he swiftly switches the gear to reverse. "Hold on" he orders. Aurora complies, grasping onto the handle of the door, bracing against the back of the seat. Tires squeal as Leon floors the gas, swinging the car around to face the road. Peeling out of the lot, racing passed the pumps, his abandoned jeep, and the crowd of dead eyed monsters. The engine roars as the car picks up speed, flying away from the gruesome scene as fast as the wheels will go.

"What the fuck just happened"

Aurora took deep breath to calm down her beating heart. There was zombie like creatures at the gas station. There's been no news of anything or if it spread, and she can't get in touch with her mother, sisters, brother or father. It must have just happened.

"What the fuck just happened"

"I don't know," Leon answers, looking over to her, "Hopefully they'll have some answers at the police station." He turns his eyes back to the road.

"Why would they have answers at the police station? Do you think they made it to the city!? Do you think something happened!?" Aurora started to panick as the thought of her family being turned into those creatures ran through her mind.

"Hey, hey," Leon called, "calm down, we don't know anything yet. Don't panic"

Taking another deep breath, Aurora started to calm down. Leon was right. They didn't know anything yet so panicking wouldn't do her or Leon any favors as of now. Especially if there was more of those things and she needed to help Leon. It's a silent drive as they sit with their thoughts. The last thing Aurora noticed was a sign welcoming them to Raccoon City, home of Umbrella.


	2. Raccoon City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon and Aurora make it to raccoon city and see the chaos that ensued in the city

**‘Attention all citizens: Due to the citywide outbreak, you are advised to take shelter at the Raccoon City police station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need." If there was more to the message Aurora didn't hear it; all she could pay attention to was the city before her.’**

Abandoned cars lined the sides of the one lane road. There are barely any streetlights on along the streets but you can make out the faint outline of bodies laying between some of the cars. Her breath quickens as she tears her eyes away from the gruesome sight. Grabbing her phone she tried to call her mother.

"Come on, come on," she cried but the phone went to voicemail once again. "Shit!" Aurora groaned as she tried Adora, and then Amira, and then Achilles, and lastly Anaya. Each call went straight to voice mail. "Goddamn it!"

"Hey," Leon called, "it's going to be alright"

"I can't get into contact with anyone. What if they're dead? What if they turned into one of those things?"

"The police station's not much farther," came Leon's soft reply, "They'll know something."

"But what if they don't? What if everyone's dead? What if we're the last ones?"

"No, There's survivors. It's a big city...there has to be." Leon said with confidence. "All we can do now is get to the police station. It's going to be alright" he says softly as he looked over at her

"God Leon, I really do hope you're right"

Looking back out the Window Aurora scans the areas for any signs of human life.  
There doesn't seem to be any lights on inside any of the buildings, houses and store fronts were dark and empty as if there was no one left in the city. No one alive at least. The broadcast begins again and Aurora tries to calm her racing heart.

The car starts slowing down as a concrete road barrier set up before a pile up of cars blocks their way. There are several cars driven up onto, or crushed under others with a few smashed windows. The road was blocked and there was no other way around it by car.

Leon rolls the car to a stop before the barrier and shifts into park, turning off the windshield wipers and leaning back in his seat. A streetlight flickers overhead as Aurora stares at the carnage of the city. The silence in deafening now that the car is stopped, and no sounds other than the rain are coming from outside.

"Looks like we're walking from here." Leon observes into the silence.

"Looks like." Aurora sighes as she looks intently out the window. "More like running." She corrects. There were two of those creatures on their hands and knees, leaning over another dead human body. They're ripping off pieces of flesh, and they can both faintly hear the sickening wet tearing sound as sinews and muscles shred. As they watched, the two zombies suddenly stopped their feast and slowly turned to facAurora

"Yeah, good call," Leon agrees. Just as he said that, there is a loud bang and a growling shriek. Aurora screams and turns to see a person throwing itself against Leon's door.

"Jesus Christ!" He yells flinching away from the window. Another creature appears, attacking Aurora's side as well. Her eyes widen in fear as she realized the car is surrounded by crazed monsters.

"Shit!" She screams as one of the zombies smashes against her window again with a sickening thud, leaving a smear of blood against the rain slicked glass. "Leon," Aurora calls, getting his attention as she looks ove her shoulder, "we gotta back up."

Leon moves to shift the car into reverse but pauses as he looks in the rear view mirror.

"What the-?!" Aurora's eyes narrowed as she sees the glare of lights getting bigger and closer by the second. They hear the honking of a horn, revealing the lights to be a truck that is barreling straight for them down the narrow road. As the truck gets closer they can see it mowing down the dead creatures shambling in front of it as swayed back and forth on the narrow path, missing the parked cars on either side by inches. It was clear that whoever is driving doesn't seem to have much control.

"Holy shit." Leon cursed, "Aurora get out." She whips her head around, looking into his eyes. He looks back at her, panic spreading on his face. "GET OUT NOW!" He yelled as he turned to open his door.

She clumsily reached for the latch on the door and attempted to push it open. The weight of the undead monsters leaning against the door keeps the door from opening it no matter how hard she shoves. "I can't!" Aurora screams, Leon fairing no better trying to get his own door open.

"Hold on!" Leon shouts, as the both of them do their best to brace themselves for the impending crash. The headlights of the truck sweep to the side at the last second as Aurora hears it smash into the surrounding cars before bouncing back towards them both. She finally feels the impact as the truck collides with the back of the car, her body thrown against the dashboard as she hears Leon grunt as his head hits the steering wheel.

The car finally stops sliding and an eerie silence follows. Aurora's heart crashes against her ribs as the blood pounded past her ears. She tried to open her side of the door but it wouldn't budge open, the crash having damaged the door so it wouldnt open. That meant the only way out was through the drivers side where Leon fell out of the car and into the ground. Groaning in pain Aurora gathered her strength to crawl through the drivers side and crawled out of the car, her body being pulled the rest of the way by Leon.

Brain still fuzzy, Aurora blinks as she feels her face being lightly tapped as her eyes focused on the face in front of her. "Leon," she groans out as she attempts to stand by herself, Leon catching her in his arms as she tipped forward. Her vision goes white as her head throbs in pain. It feels like she's about to pass pass out, the pain becoming unbearable as opposed to intolerable.

Leon grunts as Aurora is too out of it to stand on her own. Leon helps her to a nearby car, watching her face as Aurora closes and opens them at a slow pace. He wonders if she suffered some form of an concussion, when the car they were just in burst into flames. Aurora groaned and blinked her eyes rapidly to get them to focus. This was no time to pass out and die, she needed to know where her family was.

"Are you okay," Leon asks as he watched her eyes regain focus

"Yeah," she breathed, "just had to get myself together." She took a deep breath and breathed out slowly. "We have to get to the police station before those things come for us"

"Agreed" he nodded, "are you okay to walk by yourself?" He asked as he helped Aurora straighten

"Yeah"

No sooner had she said that, the truck explodes with an incredible wave of heat and force, knocking both Leon and Aurora back into a a nearby car. Aurora groans as she rolls into her hands and knees. It's one thing after another with them today. "Are you okay?" Leon asks in worry as Aurora groans in pain.

"Are you?" She asks back

"Yeah, but we can't stay here, it's not safe!"

Aurora follows his gaze, noticing for the first time the dozens of dead shambling towards them. "Yeah no shit," Aurora rolls her eyes, "which way is the police station?"

"Stay close and follow me, " Leon ordered.

A long stretch of dead bodies litter the street. Papers and random items were strewn about, most likely from the people that were attempting to flee the city amidst the chaos. Seeing the chaos made Aurora worry. Hopefully nothing happened to the police station and her family is safe.

They're both breathing heavily as they maneuver around the grasping hands of the dead. There are so many Aurora can't imagine what it was like when it all started and all the people who were victims and turned themselves.

Ahead there was a space clear of fire and mostly devoid of zombies, and Leon moves towards it, glancing back to make sure none of the others are following too close. The path leads to a small alleyway that turns off to the left. But in the corner, leaning against the wall sits a dead woman, a small fire of burning debris next to her body. Leon's steps falter as he gets nearer, and her body suddenly starts to move, lifting its head and snarling, hands reaching for Leon's legs as he rushes past. Before it can follow the two, the fire tips and blaze, obscuring the body and blocking off the end of the alley they had come from.

"Shit! It's everybody," Leon rasped, "they've all turned..."

"What happened to 'its a big city'"

Leon ignored her as they followed The narrow path that lead down several flights of stairs, around another corner then back up. Once to the top he lets out a sigh of relief. "There it is," he pants, "the station."

"Yeah, but look at what's in front of us"

In front of them were more wrecked cars, many of them engulfed in flames. More zombies shuffled through the wreckage, but there was a path leading through the maze of cars and busses. Aurora's eyes follow the path across the street and down the block, a lit sign that reads 'RPD-Raccoon Police'.

"Almost there," Leon declared as they began moving again, rounding around the crashed vehicles and barricades. A couple of bodies slumped out the windows of a burning bus, and as they hit the ground begin scrambling to their feet. More dead lined the path leading to the front gates of the police station.

"Leon," Aurora breathed, panic rising. She didn't know how they were to get past the ones in front of the police station. There wasn't much, but the fact that there was more than one, was already too much for Aurora.

"Just run," Leon ordered before sprinting past the last few zombies and to the gate of the fence surrounding the station. Aurora followed behind them, shrieking as one of them grazed her ankle. She ran through the small opening that Leon created and helped him push it closed, quickly sliding the giant lock through the mechanism to stop the creatures from pushing the gate open.

"We made it," Aurora breathed with a smile as she watched the creatures reach through the bars at them. Leon didn't say anything as he made his way to the entrance of the police station. Sighing, Aurora follows behind him, ignoring the human shaped lumps of wrapped cloth laying around the courtyard and hoping that they weren't anyone she knew. She only hoped that she could find some answers as she followed Leon through the entrance of the police station.


	3. The Police Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making it to the police station, Aurora and Leon learn that not even the police station is safe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happened in the last chapter due to it being the arriving in the city and making it to the police station. So I wanted to do a double update where we get to the games actual start

Empty, was the first thing Aurora noticed as she looked around the station. The second thing she noticed was the bloody footprints littering the floor and the medical cots and screens, along with various other supplies that must have been a part of a makeshift hospital. Everything is shoved to the sides of the room, and nothing seems to have been used recently. It was evident from where she stood, that the police station was not safe and that nobody survived despite the announcement still echoing through the streets.

"So what now," Aurora said as she sat on the desk that was situated in the lobby area and looked around."Judging by this set up, everything went to shit. Nobody is here and nobody survived," her voice cracked. There was no way her family survived. The police station was supposed to be safe but it wasn't. The entire city was in shambles and she couldn't get in touch with anyone. There was no doubt about it..

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Leon said softly as he grabbed Aurora's face and wiped the tears that fell down her face, "we don't know what happened or if the people were evacuated. Don't lose hope"

"How am I supposed to do that”

"We look for survivors. There has to be someone left alive here."

Leons eyes moved to something behind Aurora and he walked around the desk. Looking over her shoulder, Aurora notices a laptop sitting on the other counter, the screen displaying a simple design of a badge and 'R.P.D.' in bold letters.

Leon walked up to it and leaned forward slightly to better see the screen. With a couple key strokes the screen brings up a live feed of the security cameras placed in the halls, splitting the screen and showing four different videos. "There has to be someone here..." he says, mostly to himself. Aurora sighs and hops off the desk, moving to watch over Leon's shoulder.

They see movement on the lower right screen, the corner of the screen labeling it as camera four. Leon clicks another few keys and the video expands, filling the screen to show just camera four.

A figure is backing up from a perpendicular hallway, coming into view of the camera as he rounds the corner. There are two flashes of light, coupled with static garbled bangs from the speaker of the computer, as the person shoots at a second figure stumbling after him. The second figure, was revealed to be one of the undead monsters, barely flinches at the shots and advanced towards the person, who turns and runs forwards and then out of sight of the camera. The zombie turns the corner and continues chasing the person.

"Not good." Leon mutters, switching the screen to camera three so they can once again see the person. Aurora could only guess the person is a cop considering the uniform her wore. He stops and looks up at the camera for a moment before turning to the hall behind him, holstering his weapon and taking something from his back pocket.

"David! Marvin! You there!?" the officer yells up at the camera. He holds up a small notebook to the camera, "I found a way out! It's in here!" The zombie caught up to him and was almost within arms reach. He puts the notebook away and draws his gun, firing another two shots that do nothing. The creature grabs him, snapping its teeth dangerously close to the officers neck. The man manages to shove it away, his flashlight knocked from his hands, clattering and spinning down the hallway. "Send reinforcements! East hallway!" He runs out of frame from the camera again, still chased by the zombie.

"East hallway, where is that?" Aurora asks Leon, heart pounding after watching that man almost getting killed by one of those things.

"Hold on," Leon clicks a couple keys and a map is brought up on screen, the east hallway flashing red, indicating where the video was coming from. To reach it Leon will have to go through one of the heavy security doors shuttering off many of the rooms from the Main Hall. After that is a long hallway, with who knows how many of those monsters hiding and waiting. "I gotta find that guy." Leon's declares in determination as he stands up straight and turns towards the door.

"Are you crazy," Aurora's eyes widen as she followed behind Leon who was nearing the shutters, "that guy is as good as dead"

"We don't know that," Leon says, "if I can reach him I can help him"

Aurora sighs, not wanting to argue about whether or not it was right to save the man. "Well i’m coming with you then"

"No," Leon shook his head

"What do you mean 'no,' it's basically suicide for the two of us to split up. You don't know what's behind those doors and I don't know if there's anything lurking in this lobby"

"I need you to stay here just in case," Leon says, "the opening of the shutter is incredibly tight, it'll be bad if something happened and the two of us can't get pass the opening because of it. I need you here just in case. I promise I'll be back"

Aurora wanted to argue but the look on Leon's face told her that he was right. After all, she didn't have a weapon so even if she was to go with him, she wouldn't be any type of help. If anything she would only get in Leon's way while he's trying to help that poor man. Nodding, Aurora agreed.

"I won't be long. In the meantime try to see if you can find anything around here. Any survivors or a note or anything"

"Aye aye captain"

Leon smirks as Aurora solutes him. Getting on the floor her crawls the rough the small opening of the shutter, Aurora watching him until he disappeared through the other side.

"You still alive over there?"

"Yup, like I said, I'll be back"

"I believe you," Aurora stated with confidence. She did believe that he would make it back. Maybe she was delusional and didn't want to think of being left alone. Or maybe she really did have faith in the rookie cop. All she knew, was that she needed for him to return.

Walking over to the laptop, Aurora pressed some buttons and watched as Leon made his way through the hall and out of sight.

With Leon gone, there was nothing left for Aurora to do other than to look around. The station didn't look anything like a typical police station. The ceiling is high above and on either side of the huge lobby are balconies held up with large white columns. In front of the door are a few small steps leading down from the landing to the main floor of the lobby.

A large wooden desk stretched across the majority of the lobby, framed on both sides by short white stone ramps leading up to another large room, only partially separated from the front lobby by a low wooden wall behind the desk. Two large square stone pillars reached from the floor on either side of the wall to the ceiling. In the center of the room, beyond the wooden wall and standing in front of a large, sweeping double staircase, stood a magnificent white stone statue of a woman. She wore a simple gown and in her hand she raised a flag carved from the same stone. The detail was amazing from what aurora could tell.. her sister was an artist, she spent plenty of times in galleries looking at pieces of art.

As she was looking around, a groan echoed through the lobby. Aurora froze. She didn't have a weapon, nor did she have any experience in fighting those things. If there was one now inside the lobby, she didn't know what to do. The groaning continued but as she listened closer, it didn't sound anything like the groaning those creatures made when she and Leon was out in the city.

Slowly, she made her way towards the sound, her heart pounding in her chest as she hoped and prayed it wasn't a monster. Slowly she reached the middle of the lobby and found a man laying down on a cot holding onto his side. He didn't seem to act like one of those things.

"Are you alive?" Aurora asked cautiously

"Barely," the man answered. Aurora sighed in relief at the answer, lowering her guard as she made her way towards the man. He looked worse for wade, but that was to expected by the bleeding wound in his side. "I'm surprised there's any survivors considering what was happening"

"Yeah well, don't jinx me"

Marvin let out a strained laugh but winced in pain. "That's the first time I laughed in a while."

"I'm Aurora Harris"

"Marvin Branagh"

"What happened here Marvin? What's are those things? what happened to the police station and the city?"

Taking a deep breath Marvin explained the situation. The dead were raising and the city went to hell. They tried to contain it, tried getting survivors to the police station but being bitten by one of them turned you into one of them. Pretty soon they were inside the police station and Marvin had to take precautions with locking everything down.

"What about you? What's your situation?" Marvin asked

"I drove into his mess with the intention of meet my family. There weren't any evacuations or anything like that were there?"

"No, no one came and all communication has been cut off. No calls or anything can be made. It's like the entire city has been shut away from the world"

"Except for the fact that me and Leon fucking drove into this mess with no idea what was going on!" Aurora shouted in anger. "They blocked off all communication but couldn't block off the goddamn city so that nothing could go in or out"

"Calm down," Marvin coughed

"Sorry" Aurora apologized as she ran a hand through her hair, "I'm just really stressed right now. I don't know what to do, I'm looking for my family but you said no ones been evacuated and the city is shut down, and seeing your wound is making me anxious because I'm naked in the middle because I'm wearing a cropped sweater.." she blew out a puff of air, "what happened to you anyway"

"I was bit," Marvin rasped. Placing a hand on her head, Aurora groaned. "Take a breath," Marvin coaxed, "the lobby should be safe, go calm yourself. It won't do you any good to be pent up"

Nodding Aurora got up to explore to calm herself. On the first floor the entrance to the reception area was blocked by shutters, the mechanism that opened the shutters sealed closed by yellow tape as if to stop anyone from opening the area and allowing dangers into the lobby. Aurora raised an eyebrow as a door with a giant spade symbol in the middle stood out.

"What's the spade for?"

"Means you need a specific key to open it. When everything was out on lockdown, I ordered every door to be locked so no one could go around the station. Don't know where the keys are now, or if the officers are even alive."

Aurora nodded and continued on. Walking up the stairs she took note of the lion statue poised in the middle of the upper area. There was a locked door that lead to the library that aurora dismissed, and a door that led to the stations waiting room. When the door opened to the waiting room, Aurora sighed in relief.

There was nothing spectacular in the room, just a computer and a locked safe. There was another door that led to another area, but that was blocked by the same spade symbol door that was on the first floor of the station. There was officially, nowhere for her to go.

Walking back down the stairs, Aurora sat down across from Marvin. "Guess there's nothing left to do but wait for Leon"

"Your friend Leon, where is he?"

Before Aurora could answer, they heard commotion coming from the shutters leading the east hallway. "That's him right now," Aurora breathed as she rushed towards the sounds.

"Leon!" She shouted as she watched him crawl under the shutters, a smile of relief gracing her face that he managed to keep his promise. Just as he was almost safe, a zombie crawled after him and grabbed his leg, trying to pull him back in.

"Goddamnit!" he shouted

With panic in her veins, Aurora rushed over, quickly grabbing Leon's arm and using all of her strength to drag him away from the monster's reach. "I got you!" she assured him once he was out of reach.

"Watch out!" Leon shouted as an injured Marvin passed them and placed a hand on the gate. the lieutenant ignored him. Using his foot, he slammed the gate onto the grabby zombie's head, brain matter exploding all over the ground as the body stopped moving entirely.

"You're safe," Marvin looked at the pair before stumbling back against the metal wall with a pained grunt. "For now."

"Thanks," Leon said breathlessly.

"Marvin Branagh."

"Leon Kennedy."

"Leon what happened? The survivor you was getting?" Aurora asked noticing Leon arrived by himself

"There was another officer…I-I couldn't…I couldn't," he closed his eyes as if the memory of what happened replayed in his head.

"I'm sure you did what you could, Leon," he reassured before walking past them. He grabbed the computer that he left on the table as he headed towards the giant statue. Aurora helped Leon up, checking over him for any Injuries as the words Marvin told her about bites running through her head. She didn't need him turning into a zombie while they were together and killing her in the process.

"You're not hurt or anything are you?"

"I'm fine," Leon reassured her, "told you I'll be back"

"Yeah well, keep that same sentiment until we get out of here alive," she gave a stiff smile as she looked him over. "your covered in blood, water and dirt"

"Know anyplace to get a change of clothes?"

"No, but Marvin might"

Leon nodded and they both made their way toward Marvin who was walking toward a small area of supplies right at the base of the statue. He sat at one of the black leather benches, his hand putting more pressure on his side. He gestured towards the storage box behind the desk in the lobby and Leon went to go get changed. It was fast, and when he came back Aurora couldn't help but think he looked good.

He was dressed from head to toe in police gear. It was a regular navy police uniform with a grey long sleeve shirt under it to cover his exposed arms, with a bulletproof vest with a radio attached to keep in contact with Marvin. Replacing the white sneakers he was wearing were black police boots, with pads attached to his elbows and knees.

"What happened?" Leon asked as he adjusted his elbow pads. "Does anyone know who started this?"

"Not a clue," Aurora said

"And not important," Marvin spoke, "all you need to know is that this place will eat you alive if you aren't careful"

"I was supposed to be here yesterday but missed my first day." Leon explains, "wish I was here sooner"

"Why would you wish you was here sooner?" Aurora looked at Leon in confusion, "what would you have been able to do if you got here any earlier than you did? Would you have magically stopped it as a rookie?"

"I would have been able to do something," Leon argued

"Or you would have been killed, or turned into one of those things. You're way better off being late then being here when it all happened"

"HEY!" Marvin shouted, getting the two's attention, "now is not the time for this. You two should be thinking about getting out of this place"

"And how are we going to do that when everything is locked?" Aurora rolled her eyes.

Marvin lifted the book Leon gave him, "That officer you met earlier – Elliot. He thought this secret passageway might do the trick." He handed the book to Leon who looked at the illustrations carefully. The pages had sketches of different images with codes beneath them and that they would lead to a secret passage under what was labeled as the goddess statue. It looked like the tall statue next to them and looking at the base there were indeed 3 holes that needed something to fit in them.

"This is good news. We can get you to a hospital," Leon commented. Aurora gave him an exasperated look. It was like he didn't know the situation they were in and what was going on.

Just as he said this, Marvin doubled over in pain, hissing between his teeth, shaking his head. "No, no. I am not the priority here."

"Lieutenant, I'm not just gonna leave you here-"

"I'm giving you an order, rookie. You save yourself first," Marvin snapped, his voice echoing in the large room. He looked up at Leon then at Aurora then back again. "Both of you. I'd come with you, but I'd just slow you down."

"Leon," Aurora muttered, "he's right"

"Now…you'll need this," Marvin said, causing both people to look at him. He reached behind him, stood up, and took out his knife before handing it to Leon.

"I can't take-."

"Stop," Marvin shook his head and held the knife out for the other to take. Leon sighed before grasping the handle. Once he did, the lieutenant pulled Leon close and advised, "And don't make my mistake. If you see one of those things - uniform or not – you do not hesitate. You take it out…or you run. Got it?"

Leon nodded. "Yes, sir." As soon as Leon confirmed that, Marvin hissed out in pain and quickly sat down grasping his wound. The gauze was already soaked in blood.

Marvin looked at Aurora and handed her his gun and holster. Looking down at it Aurora took it. She would need it more than he did if they were going to explore the station for those medallions. "You watch his back alright, make sure he doesn't do anything unnecessary out there"

"You make it sound like I'm an expert," Aurora stated. "I need him more than he needs me"

"With that mindset of his, I doubt it"

"Hey, I'm still here," Leon rolled his eyes making Aurora laugh. Despite the situation they now had a clear objective, find the statues, find the medallions, and get out of the police station.

"I looked around the station, everything is locked so we can't go through any of these doors. The only way is to open the shutters to go through the reception"

"Alright then," Leon nodded. Aurora watched as he used his knife to skillfully cut up the tape on the box and opened it to pull the lever. The mechanism beeped loudly then the gate slowly began to rise up.

"This is not how I imagined my first day," Leon grumbled while taking out his gun as they walked forward into the dark unknown corridor.


	4. Into the Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon and Aurora make their way through the reception are to see the horrors of the police station

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re getting more of a feel of Aurora’s character as well as she and Leon’s relationship.

They both walked into the room and looked around for anything that would be helpful. To his luck, Leon found an unused box of ammo lying on a bench, which he hummed at before placing it in one of his pockets. As they walked past the divider and came to the door that opened to the beyond, Aurora stopped him.

“Maybe I should hold the flashlight”

“What”

“I mean, you’re obviously better with the gun and the flashlight will probably slow you down. This way you can focus on your aim instead of keeping the light in place”

Nodding Leon handed her the flashlight and opened the door into the darkened hallway. Slowly, they walked down the hall, Aurora flashing the light at every corner in case of an attack. The atmosphere was so tense, they could cut it with a knife. Reaching the end of the hall they came across a body. It was a man, a police officer by the looks of it as the sound of static from its radio grew louder. but now there seemed to be someone transmitting in.

**‘This is 73 – Bird - for rescue – heading east – River – Touchdown at R.P.D. – minutes. I repeat, touchdown-,” the voice cut in and out of the static before stopping completely.’**

Leon hummed curiously as he crouched down next to the body. One of his hands reached over to pull back the head, causing both parties to groan in disgust. The man's jaw was dislocated from itself, the muscles barely holding it together as it stretched out like slime. The more his head was tilted back, the lower his jaw slid down the dead man’s chest with blood seeping between barely intact teeth and neck.

“It’s like we’re in a horror movie,” Aurora whispered as Leon stood up

“Let’s make sure we survive this one”

The two turned the corner, avoiding the corpse on the floor as the continued on their way. They didn’t make it far when aurora stopped dead in her tracks at a pair of hanging feet. Shining the light up bitch she and Leon gasped. A body hung from the ceiling, held up by the head pierced brought by a broken pipe.

“How the hell did that even happen?” Aurora questioned with a shaky voice. They haven’t even made it far into the station and already she’s seeing horrendous things. There was more going on than what she originally thought. Leon reached out and grasped her arm, pulling her away from the body to move on. Her shoulder grazed the foot of the hanging corpse and the body slid from where it hung on and landed right next to them with a loud splat. 

Aurora jumped right into Leon with a gasp, grasping at his arm tightly. Her heart raced in her chest as she threw her hand up. “Fuck this, I would rather stay in the lobby where it’s safe”

“No,” Leon stopped her from turning around, “staying won’t do anything”

“It’ll keep us alive that’s what it will do”

Leon was about to argue when the sound of a tin can rolling onto the ground from down the hall caught their attention. Aurora flashed the light to the doorway ahead of them. There was a giant three-pronged scratch along the wall. He held out a hand for her to wait as he tip-toed over to the door, Aurora holding the light steady as she stood a few inches behind him. When the coast was clear, he gestured for Aurora to follow.

“It must have been hell being here,” Aurora commented as she grimaced at all the blood smearing the walls and floor

“As if our situation is any better,” Leon joked

Continuing to follow him down the hall, they passed by a broken window surrounded by broken caution tape. The floor was drenched from the rain pouring in she couldn’t see the zombies hanging around outside, not doing anything but standing and waiting, At the next corner was a window that wasn’t boarded up and as soon as they passed it, a zombie threw itself at the glass. They both jumped as they watched it growl at them and slap its bloodied hands all over the window. 

“Do you think they can break glass?”

“Let’s not wait and find out”

The two moved quickly, but the hallway was cut off, the only other way being a set of double doors to their right. Just as they reached them, the sound of glass shattering behind them caused them to run. They were sure the zombie was in the station and they didn’t have time to worry as they heard it growl. 

They quickly rushed through the double doors, not wanting to waste anytime with the zombies if they didn’t need to. Leon quickly closed the door as Aurora did a quick sweep of the room with the flashlight. “All clear”

They found themselves in a large room that looked to have been used as a meeting room at some point. The black and white tiled floors were filthy, but it was far less bloody than outside. A dull light flickered on in the opposite end of the room showing desks and chairs piled up against the left wall. Leon found some ammo on a random desk before walking to a wide dirty chalkboard that stood right under the light. Taped to it was a large piece of the map to the station.

“So we’re in the operations room right now,” Leon said as he looked the whole thing over

“That’s good and all, but how does his help us with finding those medallions?”

“Because now we know the layout of the station. We’re not blindly running until we find a room, we know where they are and what to expect in case something happens.” Leon explained. “Like how there’s a way out of this room through that door,” Leon pointed

Walking towards the door Aurora noticed a larg yellow chain wrapped around the door handles. She gave it a quick tug to see if it was loose, but to no avail. “Yeah well, nice to know that when we can’t get through the door”

“We need some bolt cutters to get in or we go around.” Leon hummed in affirmation as he folded the map in a pocket. He walked over to the desk next to her and found papers with the R.P.D. insignia. He glanced over it as she stood next to him curious at his findings. Lowering the flashlight for them to see leon began to read aloud.

**Record of Events. September 25th: ‘We’re turning the station into a temporary shelter due to the massive sudden outbreak. All police personnel have been instructed to make the safety of the citizens their top priority as we try to accommodate as many of them as possible.’**

“That was just a few days ago.” Aurora spoke as Leon turned the page

**Addendum. One of the refugees attacked us in the middle of the night, resulting in the death of 1 officer and injuring 3 others. The person in question was quickly restrained. We believe this was simply a case of someone snapping under intense stress.**

**September 26th: A mob attacked the station today, resulting in a number of casualties. A few survivors were able to make it safely behind the emergency shutters, but surrounded as we are, it’ll be hard for any of us to escape this place. We’re not sure we can fix any of our comm equipment, so we remain cut off from the outside world.**

**September 27th: There was another clash on the west side of the station around 1 pm...Twelve people died, and there is only a handful of survivors left. Everything is falling into disarray in here. David Ford.**

“It must have been just as terrible being in a locked building during those times,” Aurora commented. Beside her, she could feel Leon trembling. She looked over to see his mouth pressed in a tight line and his eyebrows furrowed in anger. His fists were balled up, crumbling the paper as a result

“I should’ve been here,” he said between gritted teeth. 

“And done what,” Aurora said lightly, not wanting to anger him. “What do you think would have changed if you was there Leon? It’s obvious that nobody was prepared for what happened and it bit them in the ass. You would be just like all the other officers, dead or maybe even worse.” Leon took a sharp breath, “look,” she said, taking the papers from his hands, “you’re here now and that’s more than enough right?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat as he nodded. He took a deep breath in then exhaled, “Yeah. Ok.” he muttered. Aurora gave him a small smile and patted his back, hoping that would perk him up enough for the two to continue. “Let’s keep going!” 

Aurora nodded in response then looked over at the opposite side of the room. There was a stack of pallets sitting against the wall. Above it was a broken window and, according to the map, it should lead to a hallway. “Looks like that’s our only way out for now,” she told him. 

Walking over, they both climbed up onto the pallets. Leon took the flashlight from Aurora as he looked over the edge carefully and swiped his arm along the top to clear some of the shards. He signaled Aurora to wait as he pulled himself up onto the sill and clambered over onto the other side. She could hear him grunt as he hit the floor. Standing on her tiptoes, she peered down at him in the dimly lit hallway. He looked up at her once she was visible and put a finger to his lips. He peeked around the hall quietly then held up a hand for her to wait before taking out his gun. Aiming it down the hall, she watched as he drew closer to whatever he was aimed at, then a few shots went off followed by a loud thud.

Putting his gun back in its sheath, Leon jogged back under the window and waved her down. With a little bit of struggle, she pulled herself up onto the sill and sat on the edge. With a small shove, she jumped away from the window, her feet landing with a thud before she began stumbling forward. Reacting quickly, Leon caught her.

  
"Whoa! I gotcha!" He helped balance her back on her feet.

“I meant to do that”

“Right,” Leon smirked as Aurora walked passed him. Following behind her they walked out into the open space when a low groaning caught their attention. On the ground in front of one of the doors, a zombie clambered onto its knees. As Leon raised his gun to shoot, Aurora stopped him.

“Don’t waste your bullets, he’s on the ground and you have a knife. Stab it in the head”

Leon raised an eyebrow, but Aurora rolled her eyes. Taking the knife from Leon and handing him the flashlight, she cautiously walked up to the zombie, backing up immediately as it lunged for her, and stood on the back of the zombie, keeping him pinned to the ground as she then stabbed it through the head quickly. It stopped moving just as fast. She pulled out the knife and handed it back to Leon who looked at her in shock. “I figured, if a bullet to the head can kill them, then a knife through the head can do it too”

Looking around, the hall was splattered in blood, even up toward the ceiling. How it got up there, they didn’t know. They tried not to talk too much until they knew the room was clear of any monsters. There were three doors on either side of them, One of the doors was labeled ‘West Office’ and the other was labeled ‘Safety Deposit Room’. The other door stood by the vending machine, but Leon found it to be locked from the inside. It must have been the room that was chained up. They would have to find a different way to get in or not be able to at all.

“So what do we do?”

“We look through the room”

They entered the safety deposit room first. It was very well lit compared to the rest of the place, which was a nice change. The walls were made of concrete and there was a keypad in front of a long aisle of lockers. Aurora looked at the keypad and noticed that the 2 and 3 buttons were missing. Walking further in the room they noticed some ammo placed inside the lockers, and at the very back held two weapons, a shotgun and a grenade launcher.

“Well those would be incredibly helpful,” Aurora commented

“Yeah, but we need a keycard to get them”

“Can’t we just break the glass”

Leon banged in the glass lightly, “Nope, this is bullet proof glass. That means nothing is breaking through this thing”

“Well that sucks,” Aurora sighed. “Well, since there’s nothing here, let’s just take the ammo and get out here. Leon nodded as Aurora used the keypad to punch the numbers Leon gave her to open the lockers. Even thought there was missing keys, Aurora was able to use a random pin to poke into the holes where the keys would go in. It was a trick she learned in school. As the lockers opened, Leon and Aurora pocketed handgun ammo as well as a knife he also gave her.

They made their way out and decided to go into the West Office. It was a bigger room mostly filled with desks in the center and a smaller separate office meant for a superior on the side. At one of those desks a zombie was leaned over as if sleeping. As if reacting to their footsteps, it raised its head and tried to stand. Leon quickly stopped it with a few shots and quickly reloaded game his gun as another one stumbled out of the separate office with a growl. He shot it before it could even get too far.

Flashing a light around, they realized it was clear for now. The both of them walked around looking for supplies. Leon found a pack of bullets in a locker and a safe in the office. He mentioned that he would need a code if there was anything useful in them to get. On a desk, Aurora found a paper detailing the different types of gun powders and what they can be used for. Combining two uses of gunpowder creates regular ammo, high-grade gunpowder and regular gunpowder makes shotgun shells and acid rounds funnily enough, and combing two high-grade powders makes mag ammo. 

While there wasn’t any gunpowder, Aurora did manage to find a first aid kit and a utility belt that matched Leon where she can keep her ammo and any other items she may have found.

As the two scanned over the office, Aurora shined the light over the desks and noticed something hanging from the ceiling. It was shiny blue streamers with plastic stars at the end. She called to Leon who looks up at the direction of the light and his face drops. The banner read ‘Welcome Leon’ in bright yellow lettering surrounded by the streamers. “That’s sweet,” aurora whispers as she sees Leon’s sad expression, “I bet it would have be a blast working here”

“Yeah,” Leon says softly as he looks over the desks. Aurora shined the light down to finda slip of paper on it. With a trembling hand, he reached for it and read it aloud.

 **Rookies first assignment – Leon S. Kennedy, we’re putting you on a very special case for your first assignment. Your mission is…to unlock your desk!He smiled sadly to himself as he read on. The key to your success is in the initials of our first names. Input the letters in order of our desks. There are 2 locks – 1 on each side of your desk. Make sure you get them both. Basically, your first task is to remember your fellow officers’ names, but you figured that much out, right? Good luck Leon. By the way, it might take a little work to get Scott to give you a straight answer. – Lieutenant Branagh.** He was about to set it down when he noticed a scribbled note in the corner between some drops of blood. **‘Be glad you’re not here rookie.’**

They looked down at the desk and noticed the two padlocks on either side. Eager to open it, they each took a side and found the names of what could’ve been Leon’s coworkers on name plaques that were sitting on the desks. Neil, Elliot, and David was on one side, while Marvin, Rita, and George was on the other. On Elliot’s desk, Aurora found a notebook with a scrawling of a diary entry.

“There’s something written here by Elliot,” she told Leon as she stopped him in his tracks to read out the entry.

**September 28 2:30 am. It’s down to just me and 3 others. No weapons…no ammo…and too many skirmishes have drained us mentally and physically. We’re not gonna make it…Officer Phillips once suggested we escape through the sewers. Apparently, there’s a secret tunnel under this place left over from its museum days.**

Aurora paused as she read the sentence over. “This place was a museum?” She paused. Shaking her head, she continued to read.

**I brushed her idea off before, but now, it’s not sounding all that bad. Yeah, there’s no proof there’s even a tunnel or that the sewers aren’t infested with zombies, but I don’t wanna sit here and wait to die, either. It’s a long shot, but I’m gonna try to find out what I can about that tunnel. – Elliot Edward.’**

God, this was just yesterday.” Leon says. Aurora knew that the situation was starting to weigh on Leon. He had an emotional connection to the station. This was his job and his coworkers. He would never get to experience being a cop, or know his coworkers, or working at his desk and experiencing his party. Everything was taken only a few days ago.

Walking away to let leon unlock his desk, Aurora made her way around the room. She found some ammo, and sucked her teeth as the door to the other side was locked with a spade symbol in the middle of the door. She wondered where the door led to, but shrugged it off as they didn’t have the key to worry about it. Sighing she turned around and made her way back to Leon.

“Was there anything useful in your desk?" She asked as she leaned against one of the desk as Leon fidgeted with his gun

“Yeah, a high capacity mag clip” he said holding up his upgraded gun for her to see. She arched her eyebrow in confusion

“A what?”

“It’s for this specific type of gun. The department must have left it for me as a gift. It lets me shoot more bullets and makes it easier to reload.”

“Wow, that’s generous”

“Yeah,” Leon nodded, “let’s keep going, there’s nothing for us left in this office and we still have to find the medallions to get out of this place”

Aurora nodded in agreement. There was nothing left for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the first part of some of the changes I made. Gameplay mechanics and all that have been slightly altered to match with the realistic approach. I don’t think gunpowder would have worked the same way in this scenario like it did in the games.


	5. Near Death Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora almost dies

Leon and Aurora moved on with their exploration of the station. There was still an entire upstairs to the station they needed to explore and they didn’t have any time to waste. Moving on from the office, they decided to head down a long-marbled hallway towards the stairs. They walked carefully in case there was any more zombies roaming the halls and strained their ears for any type of sound. At the end of the hallway was the base of the winding staircase lit by a boarded up window.

“Damn, someone must have done that when a zombie broke through the window,” Aurora noted as they heard a soft gurgling sound of a zombie coming from above them. Slowly walking up the stairs they find a dead woman sitting at the top of the stairs. Aurora noticed the ammo she was holding and reaches for it. As she picks it up, the woman lunges. Screaming, Aurora jumps back as Leon shot the woman in the head, her head exploding as the bullet pierced her skull.

“Holy shit, that was unexpected”

“I guess we have to be cautious of the ones that seem dead as well,” Leon notes.

They continue to make their way up to the second floor only to find another one coming from the third floor. They backed away on the stairs to give themselves space then watched as the zombie fell over the railing and hit the bottom floor with a splat. Peeking over, they heard it groan as the zombie slowly got to its feet. Aurora aimed her gun and shot at the head where it exploded on impact.

“Nice shot”

“Thank you,” Aurora smiled. The only thing on the second-floor stairwell was a door leading to the boy’s locker room. “Am I allowed to go in the boys locker room?” She joked

Leon rolled his eyes as Aurora slowly twisted the knob and opened the door. Leon went in first, checking out the room to make sure there wasn’t any danger lurking around. Getting the okay, Aurora followed behind. There was a loud hissing noise that filled the room coming from the water heater that was blowing hot steam out and blocking the pathway forward through the showers. Next to that doorway was a pipe that looked like it could fix the issue, but the handle to control the pressure was missing.

“Must be here somewhere, right?” Leon questioned. Aurora shrugged in responseas she examined the lockers next to them. One of them had a padlock on it that needed a code. Ignoring it, she opened the one next to it and found nothing. Leon opened the one next to that, only to shout in surprise as a body fell out onto him. He quickly shoved it away and aimed his gun at it.

Aurora kicked at the crumpled body to see if it would move. When the body didn’t move, the two breathed in relief. Aiming her flashlight into the locker, she found it was drenched in blood. “How did that even happen? Do you think there’s some zombie killer that’s killing zombies and putting them in weird positions?”

“It’s possible, but I doubt it”

“Maybe it was Marvin”

Leon laughed as he out his gun back in its holster. As Aurora was looking through a rack of towels, she found a small box with buttons on it. Curiously, she pushed a button causing it to beep loudly and one of the lights on it glowed up. Leon walked over and looked at it then at a paper that was taped to the wall.

“What is this thing?” she asked pressing more buttons.

“It’s a portable safe. **‘The buttons must be pressed in a certain order. Pressing a single button out of order will cause all of the lights to go out and you will need to start the sequence over again,’”** he read the note on the wall.

“Oh,” Aurora’s eyes widened in amusement, “I’m good at these types of things, I got this.” She tinkered around with the buttons for a minute and found it fun to do. It was like a puzzle and one wrong move had her starting all over again. After a minute, the lights were all lit and the box beeped a short song before it opened itself. inside was a STARS police badge.

“What’s STARS?” Aurora questioned a she pocketed the badge

“Its an elite special forces division under the jurisdiction of the Raccoon police department”

“Like the swat team or something?”

“Kind of, but not really since they’re independent”

“Oh, okay.” She didn’t fully get it. They didn’t work for the police, but they worked in the police station. It was weird, but there was no point dwelling on it.

The two made their way out of the men’s locker room. They quickly make their way upstairs towards the third floor. On it, they found some more ammo for and another padlocked locker with a code at the end of a blocked-off hallway. The only way through was through a wall that looked like it was bulldozed through leaving a giant hole. 

As they walked closer to it, there was a shadow of someone standing in front of a light against the wall. Carefully, they approached the hole and peeked in, only to find that it was a tiny mannequin sitting in front of a desk lamp. They sighed in relief. It looked to be like a small office with a desk and bookshelves. On said desk was a key with a teal-colored spade on the end.

“Yes,” Aurora cheered as she held the key in her hands

"What’s that?” Leon raised an eyebrow at the key in her hands

"I saw a couple of doors with a blue spade symbol that was locked. Marvin said someone locked the doors but he didn’t know where the keys were. This means we can unlock more doors to the station”

“Which means a better chance at finding the medallions”

“Bingo”

With the spade key in hand, the two slowly opened the door to a dark cramped hallway, light only coming in from the window near the end of it. The hallways was eery, the moonlight illuminating the darkness more than the flashlight only to be accompanied by the only sound being the wood creaking beneath their feet. It made Aurora nervous. As if they were going to encounter something just around the corner.

As they neared the window, something large and fast crawled across it snarling like something inhuman. Stopping dead in their tracks, they heard whatever it was break a window somewhere in the building. Aurora grasped onto Leon’sarm in fear.

“What in the-!?” Leon gasped. They stood there for a moment quietly to see if they could hear anything else but was met with silence.

“This cant be real,” Aurora whispered, “no way”

Carefully, they turned the cornered, Leon pointing his gun as Aurora stayed behind him. They were relieved to find the hallway empty and blocked off by boxes. Near a cart of books to their left, was a door. Before going through it, Leon took a second to check the blockade for anything first and picked up a slip of paper.

“What does it say?

**“‘To any survivors, Consider this a gift for anyone still unfortunate enough to be alive. Keep your eyes peeled for those creepy fucks that look like they were skinned alive- ‘lickers’,” we call ‘em.”’**

“I’m sorry. WHAT?!”

“Shhhh,” Leon shushed her as he looked around. With no incoming danger, he looked back down at the note.

**“‘They’re blind as bats, but their hearing more than makes up for that. So long as you don’t run around like a total idiot, guns a-blazing, you should be able to slip right by them...probably. Either way, make like my grandma and creep around as slow as possible around ‘em, yeah? Anyway, not that I wanna go, but duty calls. That, and I’ve got a friend to avenge. - David.”’** Leon placed the paper back down

“What the fuck is a “licker”?!” Aurora hissed terrified out of her mind.

Leon turned to her shaking his head. “No idea. This is the first I’ve ever heard of it.”

“what the hell is going in this city!? First the zombies, and now these other creatures too”

“Never mind that, we’ll deal with it when we face it. Right now, we move forward”

Making their way through they were met with a trashed up room that smelled of must and dust. There was so much stuff inside, Aurora wondered if the room was used for storage. There also looked like there was old art and pictures lying around, including a creepy looking jester doll.

A flashlight light on the floor lit up the side of the room revealing more giant scratches on a pillar. Bending down, Leon picked up the flashlight and used it to look around.Turning a corner, they were met with a dead man hanging down from the rafters of the ceiling in front of a door which had a light shining above it. As they passed it, the body slid down a little causing the two to gasp in surprise. When it didn’t move they continued around the room for a statue and whatever else they could fine.

They found some handgun ammo lying around the room as well a singular battery lying on a table. Aurora raised an eyebrow but ignored it all together. As she reached a caged area Aurora shined her flashlight inside of it, gasping at the first statue they found.

“Leon,” Aurora called, “I found one of the statues”

Leon made his way towards her and smiled. “Great, now all we need to do is get to it”

Unfortunately for the two of them, the statue was locked behind a cage. At the side, the cell was boarded up with a plethora of giant planks of wood where in the middle was a small pile of explosives taped to it, but with no way to detonate it. Aurora raised an eyebrow at who would place C4 in such an awkward position.

“So what do we do?”

“We find a detonator,” Leon said

“So not only are we finding three statues to get out of the station, we also have to find a detonator in order to get to one of them”

“Nobody said it would be easy”

“Yeah well, nobody said it would be stupid as well”

Leon smirked and pushed Aurora towards the door. The two of them were met with warm light and found themselves on the second floor of a library. It was a basic looking library lined with emerald green wallpaper and wood trimmings. Looking down onto the first floor they were met with a zombie feasting on the back of a dead man and another zombie wandering around aimlessly. Dead police officers were splayed across the floor along with books that were scattered all over the place.

“There’s another door,” Aurora pointed to the door across from them

“Then we’re going that way”

As they were quietly walking across to the other side, Leon’s radio suddenly hissed loudly. He reached up to cover the sound and looked down. Thankfully, the so,buss weren’t alerted by it.

“Leon, it’s Marvin,” Marvin’s voice radioed in. “I need you back here ASAP.” He sounded rough, still struggling with his injuries.

Leon clicked a button and leaned in to respond. “Are you ok, Marvin?”

“I’ve got something to show you. It’s important.”

“Copy that, we’ll be right there.”

“The library leads right to the lobby,” Aurora said. Leon nodded as they headed towards the door across from them. As she turned to the left, the floor creaked under her and gave way, Aurora screamed as she fell through the floor and landed hard on her back.

Aurora groaned in pain, her head spinning as she struggled to sit up and grab her gun in case she’s attacked. Unfortunately for her, a zombie lunged itself onto her, knocking her back onto the ground as it bit at her face.

Aurora’s eyes widened as she used all her strength to hold the zombie back. She could head the faint call of her name being called, but the sight of another zombie approaching blocked it out. Her breathing into a pant as she used all her strength to keep the zombie back. Tears trickled down her face as the zombie almost managed to but at her neck. “Leon,” Aurora cried weakly. She could head the faint sound of gunshot, but her hears pounded loudly, skewing her hearing.

With an extra burst of strength, she managed to push the zombie off of her as rolled into her stomach to get some space and crawl away. She didn’t get far as she felt something jump grab her foot and a body fall onto her back. Closing her eyes Aurora waited to feel the pain of teeth sinking into her flesh. She was going to die. She was going to die looking for her family who may or may not even be in the city anymore. She was going to die and Leon was going to be ridden with the guilt of letting someone die again.

“Aurora,” she heard her name being called. “Aurora”

Opening her eyes Aurora didn’t feel anything. She wasn’t dead and there wasn’t any pain from where her flesh would have been ripped away. A pair of hands were on her face, wiping away the tears that continued to fall down her face. Looking up her eyes met blue. “Leon,” she whimpered

“It’s okay,”

Aurora cried out as she wrapped her arms around Leon’s neck. Leon sighed in relief, wrapped his arms around her waist as she clung to him. Leon let her cry, giving her words of comfort as he ran his fingers through her hair. She almost died. He blinked back his own tears. He almost didn’t make it to her in time. The zombie was already on top of her, before he could even blink, and he was still dealing with another. If he waited another second, Aurora would be gone right now.

“It’s okay,” Leon whispered, “I won’t let you die, I’ll protect you and get you out of here.” Aurora nodded against his neck. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, allowing their hearts to slow down to a steady pace and to collect their thoughts and get their bearings together.

Aurora broke away first. Looking at Leon,  she wiped a few stray tears from his face. “Thank you Leon”

“No thanks necessary,” he said, unwrapping his arms from around her waist. Aurora stepped back, sniffling and wiping at her face.  


Despite the near death experience they still had an objective to fulfill. And with that experience, Aurora was more than determined to get out of the station and away from the madness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a reason why the battery is there.
> 
> Also, why would someone place the the keys of a keyboard in a portable safe? Why would a police badge be in a box that can only be opened with a red jewel that can only be found in a scepter from a statue with a missing hand? The badge being in the portable safe in the locker room makes more sense to me.


	6. Newcomer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin tells Leon and Aurora of another survivor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: the note in this chapter is from the OG RE2. Keep that in mind going forward.
> 
> On another note, the grenade launcher is my favorite weapon in the entire game....so yeah...

Leaving the library, Leon and Aurora find themselves on the second floor of the lobby. As they made their way towards the stairs, Aurora notices the lion statue and points it out to leon. Quickly the two rush over and examine the statue. There wasn’t anything hidden about it, and the only thing on it worth noticing was a three combination mechanism that reminded aurora of a padlock.

“I’m guessing we have to find the right combination for the statue,” Aurora said as she flipped through the different pictures.

“And they’re right in this book,” Leon said as he flipped through elliots book to the page with the statue and the combinations. “So it’s a lion, a branch, and a bird”

Nodding Aurora flipped through the pictures until she hit the correct one on all three. The circle on the shield twisted and opened to reveal a medallion. Looking at each other, Leon took hold of the medallion and they made their way down the stairs. With one medallion secured, they only had two more to go

“There you both are...”

“And look what we found,” Aurora said as she held up the medallion.

“So there really are those things around the station,” Marvin heaved, “place it in the statue,” he pointed to the goddess statue in front of them, “in one of the three compartments”

Nodding Aurora did just that. Placing the medallion in the first slot, Leon and Aurora backed up as the statue dipped and something opened. 

“So Elliot was right,” Marvin breathed”

“We found our way out,” Leon smiled.

“That’s good, maybe you two can get out with other survivors. Come here, take a look,” he grunted as he clicked a tab open on the computer. They walked closer watching him work through the pain to do it. Camera feed from outside of the station expanded showing a girl staring at the police station gates.

“Another survivor,” Leon said smiling wider

“You can get to that courtyard through the second floor...east side,” Marvin pointed with his thumb towards the opposite side of the building. “But you’re going to need a key”

“All covered,” Aurora smirked as she held up the blue spade key

“We’re on it,” Leon paused for a moment, eyes softening at Marvin. “Thanks.. Lieutenant.”

They walked down across the balcony towards the door Marvin told them about, Aurora already telling Leon that there wasn’t anything inside the room worth noting. Leon pushed it open revealing a well-lit waiting room of sorts. It surprised Leon how unbothered the room was. No blood, no marks, no trash, no nothing. the pair walked up to the door which had the spade emblem on it, Auroraunlocking it swiftly as leon brought out his gun. He cracked the door open, then pushed it away. 

Gazing out, they were met with a dimly lit hallway, with light coming from emergency lights on the walls. They walked carefully to their left only to be met with the hallway being cut off by a metal shutter, a place meant for a crank to open it was left empty on the wall next to it. There were more boards lying around and there was a door to an art room as the sign above it said. 

Aurora peaked into the art room, hoping to find another statue. She did a quick sweep of the room as they had to hurry and reach the girl in the courtyard. There was a statue inside the room, but there was no slots on it like the last one, rendering it useless to them. On the small table was a thin white keycard that was labeled for the weapons locker and around Smiled. Pocketing the card she left the room to meet with Leon in the hall.

As iThey drew closer to the corner, Leon and Aurora noticed there was a distant buzzing sound coming from somewhere outside. “Sounds like a helicopter,” she whispered.

“Sounds a little low, don’t you think?”

As they drew closer down the hallway, the sound was suddenly very loud and very close. Not even a second later, the helicopter zoomed into the building, crashing through the wall with a loud crash, leaving dust in its wake. The building shook at the collision, stopping the pair as they stumbled.

“Did it just crash!?”

The two made their way towards the crash only to find that the helicopter cut off a part of the station. The only way to go now, was through the door leading outside. They quickly ran out taking a look at the crash site, rain coming down like never before. The pilot’s body was entangled in a metal mess, unmoving

“HEY!” A girl’s voice suddenly shouted out to them. “HEY YOU TWO”

“HOLD ON! WE’LL BE RIGHT THERE!” Leon shouted back

“OK!” 

The two quickly ran down the stairs to the chain-linked fence where the girl was trying to open what looked like a locked door. She was young, with auburn hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes.

“Thank god I found someone else,” the girl said, “the city has gone to shit”

“Yeah well, it ain’t better in there either,” Aurora sighed

“Well shit,” the girl blinked, “I’m Claire Redfield by the way,” she introduced

“Aurora Harris”

“Leon Kennedy”

“I’m guessing you don’t have a key in one of those fancy pockets?” Claire asked looking at Leon’s police outfit

“Unfortunately, no...But, how are you doing?”

“You know,” she shrugged playfully as she leaned an arm against the gate, “just surviving.”

Leon chuckled

“Will you be able to climb the fence?” Aurora suggested, “it’s high but it’s better than nothing right”

“I can try,” Claire said as she observed the fence. “But the barbed wire may be a problem”

“Crap”

“There should be a small storage room close by. Look there and see if someone left the key to the fence there,” Leon said

“I can try that,” Claire nodded, “thanks”

Suddenly, a giant explosion from behind them interrupted him. Turning around, the helicopter had caught on fire causing the fire alarm bell to ring loudly into the night. 

“Damn it. You know what that means,” he stated grimly. Claire turned around at the sounds of snarling coming from behind her. A body was already sitting up near a bench at the end of the courtyard.

“Yeah...Dinner time,” she mumbled while taking out her gun.

“Claire, I think you should go.” Leon said as Claire turned back to face them.

“Don’t worry about me, guys. You take care of yourselves.” The farther fence that surrounded the building was beginning to shake with the amount of undead trying to get in.

“Claire, you need to go- NOW!” Leon urged.

“Okay” Claire nodded, “if you hear or see anything about a man named Chris Redfield, let me know. He’s my brother,” she said as she shot at one of the zombies that was close.

“Hey...Let’s get through this,” Aurora said to Claire and Leon. The other two nodded in response before Claire ran away into the night, deftly avoiding the dead. They pulled away from the fence as some zombies began to make their way toward them. The fence shook with force as the zombies snarled at them. The way back was blocked by the fire, and the only way to go was locked by a chain. 

“Uh, Marvin. I’ve got a situation here...We’re surrounded by zombies!” Leon said as he radioed Marvin. There was no response, “Marvin! Do you copy?” Again no response. “Marvin!?” Nothing. “Dammit!”

“We’ll have to check on him as soon as we get back inside!” 

Aurora held up a pair of bolt cutters that were sitting on a toolbox next to the door on a trash can. Using the colt cutters, she swiftly broke the chain on the door. Rushing inside they were immediately met with the bodies of dead zombies,

“This is the east hallway,” Leon noted, “the one I was in earlier to find Elliot”

“Then the lobby isn’t that far”

“Be on high alert, I only managed to take out these ones.” He gestured towards the zombies on the ground, “There’s more roaming around, but I don’t know how many I may have missed when I was rushing back.

Aurora nodded as they made their way inside. they were met with a dark hallway only familiar to Leon. The floor was drenched in blood coming from the pile of bodies lying about. Up ahead was the East Office which looked like they could cut through to the other side. Leon lead the way, using his flashlight to shine a light on the office door that was chained. To their left, a zombie stood in the darkness of the hall. Quietly Aurora used the bolt cutters to cut the chain on the door, as the two made their way through, closing the door lightly as to not alert the zombie.

The room was bigger than expected. “I hope there isn’t a hoard of zombies in here,” Aurora whispered as she and Leon examined the room. a zombie slammed itself at a window next to a dead body that was hunched against the wall. Thankfully, the window was boarded up, extra nails and boards by the feet of the dead officer. The banging must have woken the zombies up because a groan was echoed through the room as an officer stood up from his desk. Grabbing his gun Leon shot at the zombie until it fell to the ground dead.

Looking around the room they found more handgun ammo, a flash grenade, and a handful of acid rounds, as well as an electrical part. “That should be the missing part to get the shutters to go up,” Leon observed

“They must have taken it so that no one could open it and infect the lobby”

Breaking glass caught their attention. The zombie must have broken the window and is now working on the boards blocking it from entering. Looking at one another, Leon and Aurora nodded. Taking the chair that blocked the room from being entered, they found themselves in the dark east hallway. Taking the electrical part, Leon placed the fuse back into the exposed fuse box on the wall. As soon as it was in place, the gate climbed up noisily leading them back to the familiar main hall.

The room was still quiet, except for Marvin’s labored breathing that echoed in the room. They walked over to find Marvin lying across the bench he was sitting on when they left, unconscious, but still groaning in pain. He looked much worse since they had gone. His skin was pale and splotchy, veins more noticeable and dark against his glassy skin. His hands were covered in blood and his shirt was drenched in it. 

“Still alive,” Leon breathed softly.

“Yeah, but for how long”

“Don’t say that”

“Let’s face reality Leon, he doesn’t have much longer and there’s no way we can get him to help, or find anyone that can help him”

“That doesn’t mean we should give up on him,” Leon argued, “maybe we will. We found Claire, there could still be more survivors”

“Yeah, maybe,” Aurora sighed. She didn’t want to argue with him on this. It was nice that he wanted to save Marvin, it was admirable that he was still optimistic that they could. But it just wasn’t realistic to their situation. “So what now”

“As I said, we need to find a detonator for the c4, and then find the last statue that holds the medallions”

“And how are we going to find a detonator?”

“We search,” Leon shrugged.

“Of course. Well, while we’re searching, let’s go back to that weapons locker”

“Why”

“Because,” Aurora smirked as she digs in her pocket and pulls out the keycard to hold up to Leon’s face, “I found the keycard.” Leon chuckles and nods. “And what would be the best way to get there”

“Map says, through the west office, which is right in this lobby”

Using the spade key to unlock the west office,the two made their way through the west office and back to the safety deposit room. Using the keycard, Aurora and Leon stocked up with more weapons. With grenade launcher in hand, Aurora looked through the remaining lockers to find some flame rounds.

“Do you even know how to use that thing,” Leon raised an eyebrow

“No, but you can show me”

Rolling his eyes with a smirk, Leon showed Aurora how to load the weapon with the flame rounds she found, and how to shoot. The weapon was simple to use and the kick back wasn’t as strong or profound as what she expected from the shotgun or the handgun she had.

“For some reason, I feel safer with this grenade launcher now”

“So the zombies don’t bother you anymore,” Leon smirked

“They won’t with this grenade launcher.” Leon let out a laugh. With their newfound weapons secured, they were now equipped to handle whatever zombies were left in the station. “So where to now?”

“So far,” Leon said as he took out the map of the first floor, “we searched here, here, here and here,” Leon pointed to the operations room, safety deposit room, and the east and west offices, “we couldn’t check here because it was blocked off by a chain,” he pointed to the smaller room seperate from the operations room, “we didn’t check the records room, but it seems to have a club symbol on it so my best guess is that it requires a key much like the doors with the spade symbol. We also missed the break room which is close by”

“Alright, where are you thinking we should check first?”

“I say we check the operations room since that door is blocked off. There must have been a reason someone chained it up. And since it leads back to the hall, if we don’t check it there, we can check the break room next”

“Okay, but the last time we was there, there was a lot of broken windows and a zombie managed to make its way through, there might be a whole horde of them waiting”

“Well, we’ll just have to fight through it then”

Leaving the safety deposit room, the two cut through the west office and back through the reception where they found themselves back in the dark hallway. There wasn’t a horde of them like Aurora said, but there was a few of them wondering around aimlessly that would need to be killed in order for the two to get to the room safely. Taking out there guns, it took a dozen and some bullets to put down the zombies in the halls.

Making it to the operations room, they broke through the chains around the door handle and walked into the room. There was a desk right when they walked in where they found the detonator to the C4 upstairs.Carefully Leon inspected the detonator. As he spun it around, he hummed curiously.

“It needs a battery. Without it, it won’t go off, so we’ll have to find one that’ll fit.”

“Who would leave a detonator here in the first place? Especially one without a battery?”

“People are panicking, when they do that, all sense of logic is lost”

Aurora found another flash grenade and a note as Leon unlocked the door to the west hallway.

** September 26th **

** The Raccoon Police Dept. was unexpectedly attacked by zombies. Many have been injured. Even more were killed. During the attack, our communications equipment was destroyed and we longer have contact with the outside. **

** We have decided to carry out an operation with the intent of rescuing any possible survivors as well as to prevent this disaster from spreading beyond Raccoon City. The details of the operation are as follows: **

** Security of armaments and ammunition. **

** Chief Irons has voiced concern regarding the issue of terrorism due to a series of recent unresolved incidents. On the very day before the zombies' attack, he made the decision to relocate all weapons to scattered intervals throughout the building as a temporary measure to prevent their possible seizure. Unfortunately, this decision made it extremely difficult for us to locate all ammunition caches. **

** It has become our top priority to recover these scattered munitions. **

** Recorder: David Ford**

** \- Operation Report - **

** September 27th **

** 1:00PM. The west barricade has been broken through and another exchange ensued. We sheltered the injured in the confiscation room on the first floor temporarily. Twelve more people were injured in the battle. **

** Recorder: David Ford**

“I guess it was chief irons that spread everything around,” Aurora said as she placed the note back down. As soon as the two stepped into the hallway, Leon’s radio went off. Their hearts beat at the surprise as the backed up into the room, Leon locking the door once again just in case,

“Leon, Aurora,” the familiar voice echoed through the room

“Claire!”

“Oh thank god,” the girl on the other side sighed in relief, “I made it into the station. Marvin, he’s not looking too good”

“Yeah we know,” Aurora sighed, “there’s nothing we can really do at the moment though”

“Yeah,” she answered sadly, “where are you two anyway”

“Claire, listen carefully” Leon took over, “the station isn’t safe so we found a way out, however we need three medallions from three different statues in order to do so. We found one, and we know where the other is”

“So all your missing is the third one”

“Exactly”

“Okay, so I’ll look for the third one”

“It should either be a unicorn or a maiden,” Aurora told her

“Alright, where are the places you guys haven’t checked yet”

“We have yet to look upstairs. There’s a broken pipe that’s emitting steam that’s blocking our path in the kenslocker room, it requires a valve to turn the pressure off”

“I think I know where one is, I’ll go do that while you get yours”

“They require a code to get, so when you do find the medallion, radio me and I’ll tell you the combination”

“Roger”

Looking at one another, Leon and Aurora leave the room to find a battery for the detonator. With another member to their small team, finding the third medallion should be quicker. They could focus all their attention on the detonator and Hopefully Claire would be able to find the third. 

With the plan in motion to find a battery, the two got to searching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What bothered me the most about the game is this: in order to get the last medallion, you need to rush all the way back through the reception and to the operations room to get the electronic gadget. You then have to proceed to run up the stairs to the second floor, turn off the steam, and get pass the licker to get to the STARS office to get the battery. You then have to go through the hall to the room with the unicorn statue, walk up the stairs, proceed to wait 10 seconds for the C4 to explode, and get the medallion, in which you either move the bookcase first, or fight off the licker plus the zombie to be able to remove the bookcase from in front of the door, or just run back around, in order to get to the lobby in order to place the medallions in the slots to reach the lower levels.
> 
> And while you’re doing all this in the A scenario, they want me to believe that it took the B scenerio an equal amount of time to rush back to the chained room, grab the keys to unlock the gate, and then reach the lobby. 
> 
> So yeah, that changed. You don’t have to get the unicorn medallion before meeting the B scenario anyway. 
> 
> Edit: I get that it was mostly done fo gameplay and it’s a gameplay decision, but it muddles the flow of the story.


	7. Claires Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire has two objectives. Find anything about about Chris and where he is, and find the medallion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The notes in the chapter is from the OG Resident Evil 2.

“Hang in there Marvin,” Claire said as she carefully managed to take the two way radio off of him and clip it to herself. She needed to do two things, 1. Find a statue to get a medallion, and 2, find anything on her brother. Marvin told her he was on vacation, but she didn’t believe that. Her brother wouldn’t hide something like that from her.

Backtracking to the east office, Claire grabbed the round valve that was left on the desk inside the independent office. There was no time to wonder why it was there, all that mattered was her objective. Running back into the lobby, Claire opened the door to the west office. Aiming her gun in front of her, Claire used her flashlight to look around in case any zombies appeared. Slowly walking inside, she noticed two dead zombies on the ground and put her gun away. “Leon and Aurora must have cleared this room,” she observed. It was a good thing too.

Walking out of the west office she found herself in a hallway. Walking towards the area with a stairs sign hanging on it, Claire jumped as a zombie banged against the window. “Holy shit,” she breath as the zombies hands reached through the planks to get at her. Walking past Claire looked at the dead zombies long the stairs. Walking to the second floor, Claire made her way to the men’s locker room. Just like Aurora and Leon said, a broken pipe emitting steam blocked her from moving forward. Using the valve, Claire mustered her strength to turn it, effectively shutting the steam off and freeing her way forward.

It was the showers with stalls lining one side of the room while sinks lined the other. One of the stalls had been left on, water flooding both the bathroom and down the drain. On the other side of the room, the wall had a giant hole like something had busted through it. Walking through it she found a man sitting on one of the benches hunched over. Carefully she walked past it only for it to fall forward, crumpling onto the ground. jumping back Claire aimed her gun at it in preparation for it getting up. She waited a moment, but it never did.

Keeping her gun out, Claire slowly opened the door and walked in. It was a dark hallway, lit only by the light above the door she stood under and a light lying on the ground somewhere down the hall. There was a broken window blowing in the cold night air and the downpour of rain, drenching the floorboards. Shining a flashlight, there were a couple of dead bodies lying around and blood was splattered everywhere. Treading forward a couple of steps into the hallway, she could hear a clicking sound coming from further in the hall. The sound put her on edge.

Suddenly, something screeched loudly, stopping Claire dead in her tracks as she shined a light on where it came from. Something long and slimy shot down from the ceiling to the floor maybe 20 feet away. She watched in horror as a terrifying creature had stabbed a body with its incredibly long tongue then snapped it up to it. It was clung to the ceiling with giant sharp claws, it’s muscles exposed as if it was a human body with no skin. Whatever it was sank its razor-sharp teeth into the body and began digging through it hungrily, blood splattering all over the place. Once it was done with it, it dropped the body back onto the floor with a sickening thud.

“What the fuck is that,” Claire whispered.

As if it heard her the creature began to crawl along the ceiling towards her, tilting its head and trying to listen for noises. Her light didn’t seem to attract it as it looked this way and that. From what she could see there were no eyes, just an exposed brain, and teeth. As it hissed lowly, Claire’s heart pounded as the tapping of the claws on the ceiling got closer and closer to her. As the things tongue slivered out of its mouth, Claire panicked.

Shooting three rounds at it, Claire eyes widened as the bullets did nothing but anger the creature. With a loud screech, it dropped to the ground and barreledtowards her. Turning around, Claire ran. She could hear it getting closer, and closer to her when she reached the door to the shower room. Slamming the door shut, Claire screamed and fell backwards as she heard the sound of claws scratching the door. Her breathing was loud and labored as she watched the door. Claw marks were starting to show on the door, and Claire wondered if it was going to break through the door to get to her. Holding her gun, Claire waited.

She heard the taps of the creature as it crawled away from the door and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Reloading her gun, Claire waited a bit longer, taking a deep breath and explaining. Slowly and as quietly as she could, she opened the door to the hallway.

Peaking her head out, Claire aimed her flashlight around the hall to look for the creature. It was was on the ceiling, but right above the door. Carefully, Claire opened the door, clenching her eyes shut hoping it wouldn’t make a sound. Taking a step out Claire held her breath as the creature let out a low hiss.

Thunder roared as Claire quietly made her way through the hall. With each passing step, she could hear the blood rushing in her ears and it was getting harder to breathe. Sweat began to drip down her temple as she walked by it, making it ever so closer to her destination. As she seen the office in her sights, Claire made a decision to run. She rushed through the door, just as she heard the monster hiss out.

Sighing in relief, Claire began her search around the stars office for anything concerning her brother. There were desks sitting neatly against the wall, but everything looked cluttered. Rushing over to her brothers desk, which housed a computer, Claire cheered as the computers managed to stay on despite the circumstances. The desktop was already open, and as Claire checked through the files, she came across a dead end. “Need authentication. Need a usb”

Digging into her pocket, Clair took out a stars badge. Turning it around she pushed the hidden handle up, the badge now doubling as a USB port. “Good thing Chris keeps a spare lying around just in case,” Claire said as she plugged the usb into the computer. She dug around the classified files, looking for any type of note or sign that her brother was sent on a mission or at a location he couldn’t disclosure for whatever reason. As she clicked onto his email, something caught her attention. 

** Mr. Chris Redfield **

** Raccoon City Police Dept. **

** S.T.A.R.S. division **

** As per your request, we have conducted our internal investigation and discovered the following information: **

  1. **Regarding the G-virus currently under development by Umbrella Inc. So far it is unconfirmed that the G-virus even exists. We're continuing with our investigation.**
  2. **Regarding Mr. Brian Irons, Chief of the Raccoon City Police Dept. Mr. Irons has allegedly received a large sum of funds in bribes from Umbrella Inc. over the last five years. He was apparently involved in the cover up of the mansion lab case along with several other incidents in which Umbrella appears to have direct involvement. Mr. Irons had been arrested under suspicion of rape on two separate counts during his years as a university student. He underwent psychiatric evaluation as a result of the charges but was released due to circumstantial evidence as well as his phenomenal academic standing.As such, extreme caution is advised when dealing with him.**



** Jack Hamilton, **

** Section Chief **

** Internal Investigations **

** United States Federal Police Department **

“Damn it,” Claire cursed. So he was looking into something regarding umbrella before he left. That still didn’t tell her where he even was. “where are you Chris.” Sighing, she leaned back against the desk. This didn’t make sense. Her brother wouldn’t have up and disappeared without telling her anything. After their parents died, they promised to always tell each other everything, especially if that something means Chris would disappear for a while without any communication.

Claire was starting to get ansty. Turning around, she started rummaging through the desks. If there wasn’t anything she could us on the computer, there must be a file or something she could use. She emptied out his desk drawers, not caring that she was making a mess of his stuff, when she came across a drawer that was padlocked. Raising an eyebrow, Claire thought about all the possible combinations Chris would use. His birthday, and her birthday. They were born in the same month, but 10 days apart. It was a combination of the two. Claire loved her brother, but he wasn’t exactly a creative person and leaned more towards sentimental. After figuring out the combination, Claire opened the drawer to find a leather bound notebook.

“This looks promising”

** August 8th **

** I talked to the chief today once again, but he refused to listen to me. I know for certain that Umbrella conducted T-virus research in that mansion. **

** Anyone infected turns into a zombie. **

** But the entire mansion went up in that explosion; along with any incriminating evidence. Since Umbrella employs so many people in this town, no one is willing to talk about the incident. **

** It looks like I'm running out of options.**

** August 17th **

** We've been receiving a lot of local reports about strange monsters appearing at random throughout the city. This must be the work of Umbrella.**

** August 24th **

** With the help of Jill and Barry, I finally obtained information vital to this case. Umbrella has begun research on the new G-virus, a variation of the original T-virus. Haven't they done enough damage already?! We talked it over, and have decided to fly to the main Umbrella HQ in Europe. I won't tell my sister about this trip because doing so could put her in danger. **

** Please forgive me Claire.**

She closed the book and placed it down on the desk. How could Chris’s investigation have put her in any danger? What was the T-Virus? The G-Virus? What was umbrella even doing? Claire faced the caged armory lost in thought. There was already so much going on. Could umbrella have been the cause of the outbreak? Did Chris also face zombies like the ones roaming around raccoon city? Was that how everything started?  
  
The last time she talked to him was late August. She knew he had a mission, and she knew that it was after that mission that Chris distancing himself. He refused to tell her anything about that mission, which was weird as Chris never had a problem telling Claire about the things he and his team get in to. He always left out certain details, but he always told her about his missions.

But there wasn’t anytime to think things over now. She needed to find that medallion if she wanted to escape to get more answers.

“Well, it’s as good a time than any to stock up right,” Claire said as she eyed the armory. using the USB to unlock the armory, Claire walked in. Everything was wiped out. There weren’t any weapons or ammo sans a submachin gun, and two packs of ammo for it. Looking around to make sure she didn’t miss anything, and finding a strap to place the weapon in.

With nothing left for her in the office Claire left. Quietly she opened the door and flashed her light around the hall, looking for any sign of the creature that was hanging around. It was still on the ceiling but was closer to the door the it previously was when she left.

Carefully, Claire made her way done the hall, holding her breath as she rounded the corner to find two sets of doors. One door had a pink diamond emblem on it and the other was a plain door that had a deadbolt on the side. Unlocking it, she was met with a giant statue of a unicorn sitting against a balcony railing to a small room. inside the shield that the unicorn posed upon, was a small medallion with a unicorn carving on it. At its base was a stone box with 3 dials each with carved symbols on it.

“This must be one of the statues Leon and Aurora was talking about.”Claire examined as she radio’s Leon. “Leon, I found one of the statues you were talking about.” Claire waited. A minute passed with silence, “Leon?”

“I’m here,” Leon said from the other side breathless”

“Are you okay”

“Yeah, repeat what you said earlier”

“I found one of the statues you was talking about. It’s a unicorn”

“Hold on.” Claire wondered what it is the two were doing. She radioed them without a thought, not thinking about where the two could be and what types of dangers they were faced with. Claire swore. “Two fish shaped like the Pisces sign, a scorpion, and a water jug.” Leon’s voice rang out making Claire jump. With the combination, Claire turned the dials. The sound of stone grinding echoed as Claire watched as the shield opened to release the medallion from the statue.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry about that, the sound of the radio spooked us and we booked it to a safe room just in case”

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking”

“Are you okay?” Leon asked in worry. Claire smiled lightly at it.

“Yeah I’m okay, but watch out, there are these ferocious look monster things roaming around. They’re extremely fast, with long sharp tongue and they’re fast and can walk on walls. They can jump at you at a moments notice if you’re not careful”

“Shit,” Leon cursed, “those must have been the lickers the note was talking about”

“Lickers?”

“Yeah, they got in somehow while everything was going on. We haven’t ran into one yet, so thanks for the info

“No problem. So what do I do with the medallion”

“Back in the lobby there’s a goddess statue in the middle of the room. Place the medallion in one of the empty slots. Me and Aurora should be with you soon”

“Okay” Claire nodded, “you two be careful”

“We will”

Pocketing the medallion, Claire grabbed the map that was placed on a small table near the door. It was a map of the second floor it seemed, but there was nothing more for her to see. The stars office wasn’t a total bust, but it still didn’t tell her anything more about her brother. Placing the map in her back pocket, she made her way out of the small room and into the library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found it weird how vague the remake made Claire’s search for Chris. When I was looking up how Claire got to Rockfort island in the first place(I haven’t played code Veronica in a while), I came across the files in the original game, and I was so confused as to why a lot of the files were left out in the remake.


	8. The Last Medallion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora and Leon find the battery and get the last medallion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter. New chapter tomorrow to make up for it.

One more to go,” Aurora sighed as she and Leon sat in the what the map referred to as the dark room.

Claire’s radio shocked them both as they made their way back through the reception. Unfortunately, the zombies outside felt the same way because three or four of them fell through the window. Not chancing their bullets, the two made a run for it. It seemed more were appearing as the east hallway had two zombies that weren’t there before, roaming the halls. Leon and Aurora took care of them before rushing into the dark room.

“You ready?”

“Yeah” Aurora nodded as she rotated the detonator in her hand. “It’s weird isn’t it, that we were able to come into the city so fucking easily despite what was going on,” she chuckled, “but now, getting out of it, we have to get three medallions from three different Statues hidden around the police station, that requires specific combination, in order to get to a secret underground passageway that leads out of the police station. What type of goddamn sense does that even make”

“None at all,” Leon sighed, “but we can’t dwell on that now can we? We still haven’t found that battery”

“No,” Aurora said as she stopped at the back of the detantor, “I guess we can’t.” Staring at the back, Aurora raised an eyebrow. “Leon, I think I know where a battery is”

“Where?” Leon raised an eyebrow

“Back in the library storage room. It was on a table”

“And you just remembered that now?”

“It was a random battery,” she shrugged

Leaving the room, Aurora and Leon made their way up the stairs to the library storage room. The walk was silent as they checked for more zombies among the stairs. With none in their way, Leon opened the door to the storage room and Aurora pointed him to the battery left on the table near the cage. Standing back, Aurora watched as Leon turned a corner as he out the battery in the detonator. She heard the beeping of the detonator as Leon appeared besides her. Another second and a giant explosion shook the room and knocked a bunch of things over.

Once the room stabilized Aurora and Leon looked around. “The bookshelf is blocking the way out,” Aurora noted, “we should probably unblock that just in case”

“Good call”

Together the two pushed the bookcase out of the way of the door and set up straight. With their way out clear Aurora and Leon head into the cage where aurora gasps at the piles of dead policemen bodies. “What the hell did this?”

“Let’s not wait to find out”

Reaching the maiden statue Leon read out the combination. Woman, Bow, Snake. “What’s taking so long?”

“I can’t see the pictures on the dials. Here, hold the flashlight for me”

Taking the flashlight Leon held it for Aurora to see. The pictures on the dials looked like they were scratched off, making it hard for both of the to make out the pictures they needed. Narrowing her eyes, Aurora strained to see through the scratched off marks, catching glimpses of what she thought was a woman, a bow, and a snake. The sound of a click and stone turning made Aurora smile as she stepped back, the shield holding the medallion opening up.

“And thats thats” Aurora said as Leon grabbed the medallion and Aurora took the flashlight back. Just as Leon pocketed the thing, a hiss came from above as a the sound of a grate breaking and hitting the ground echoed in the room. They both froze. Looking at one another, Leon gestured his head forward. They wouldn’t accomplish anything if they were to stand around.

Aurora stayed close to Leon as they made their way out of the cage. There was something in this room that wasn’t a standard zombie, and she wanted to be as close to Leon as possible in case something were to happen. Just as they stepped out the cage the tapping of something coming close made them stop in theirs tracks, Aurora snapped the flashlight in the direction and her eyes widened in horror at what she seen. A long tongue lashed out at them and Leon pushed Aurora back into the cage.

The monster screeched loudly and jumped back. Leon took out his shotgun as the creature ran forward and lunged. Leon shot the thing on of thin air. Not wasting anytime, he grabbed Aurora’s hand and ran. In front of them a zombie stood up and reached for them. They managed to dodge the reach of the zombie, but the two so sound of the creature was heard and Aurora screamed as she fell forward as something landed on her back. Leon thought quickly, shooting the thing off of aurora as he helped her arm and held her hand tightly. As they rushed out of the room, they heard the screech oc claws on wood as the creature attacked the door they ran out of.

“What the hell was that,” Aurora breathed as she tried to steady her breath, “what the fuck is going on”

“I don’t know,” Leon shook his head as he released Aurora’s hand, “that might have been that licker the note was talking about, and the creature Claire seen earlier. They must have killed a lot of people in the station”

“How is that even possible. Do regular zombies turn into those things? Are they animals? Just, what the hell”

“There’s something else going on,” Leon stated, “but we won’t find any answers here, we have to get out of here”

Aurora nodded and followed Leon out of the library and back into the lobby. Claire was there waiting as she sat on the couch next to Marvin. The lieutenant was looking worse than the last time they seen him. If Aurora was to guess, the man had only minutes left alive.

“Is he okay,” Leon asked

“He’s still alive,” Claire said, “I don’t know for how long though”

“Then there’s no time to waste”

Walking for to the statues Leon placed the last medallion in its slot. The whole front part of the base, including the medallions, slid down into the ground creating a small staircase down to a white iron door. Leon walked down it and, with a hard shove, opened the door. He flashed his light down inside to make sure there weren’t any zombies awaiting, or worse, lickers

“So, it goes underground...Huh,” Leon mumbled to himself. “That’s it - That’s our way out,” he nodded. Turning he made his way to Marvin’s sleeping form.

“Lieutenant Branagh! Marvin!” The injured officer hissed silently in his sleep. “It’s time to go,” Leon reached for the lieutenant only to have Marvin growl at him, quickly sitting up. Claire and Aurora pulled out their weapons and trained it on Marvin. He sounded like those monsters and the couldn’t take any chances.

“We need to get you to a hospital right now,” Leon urged. Marvin blinked confused for a moment, but pulled away.

No, no...I, uh,” the injured man tried putting his thoughts together. He pressed on his injury, clearly still in pain. “Save yourself…” Leon wouldn’t hear any of it and got onto his feet, reaching for Marvin”

“C’mon, I’ve got you-.”

The older man just pulled away. “GO!”

“Look, we can still make it out of here together, if you just gimme-,”

“Leon stop it,” Aurora interrupted, she was getting fed up with this, “he’s not going to make it to a hospital, he won’t even make it out of the station. He’s as good as dead now”

“Don’t say that,” Leon shook his head in denial

“I tried, Leon...But I couldn’t stop it.” Marvin began blinking back his own tears. “We can’t let this thing spread. It’s on you three now. Just go!”

Leon took a step back and stared at his lieutenant on the cusp of death. “ I understand,” was all he said before turning to walk away. Claire placed a hand on Marvins shoulder, giving her condolences as she followed Leon.

“Thank you Marvin,” Aurora said as she did the same. She only knew the man for a little while, but he did more than enough to help them. It was sad that he wouldn’tmake it, but there wasn’t anything Aurora could do.

As they walked in, they turned to see the entrance closing up behind , leaving them in darkness. “We won’t let you down, Marvin,” the young officer affirmed full of sadness.

“You’re a really good guy Leon,” Claire commented

“Yeah, but he’s also naive too. Look Leon it’s good that you want to save as many people as you can, but that doesn’t mean that you have to delude yourself into thinking it’s a possibility when someone is dying right in front of you”

“Just because he’s dying doesn’t mean there’s nothing we could have done,” Leon snapped. “I know he was dying, but that didn’t mean that I shouldn’t have tried to help in any way I could”

“Do you know the situation that we’re in? Because I don’t think you do,” Aurora rolled her eyes

“I saved your life not too long ago,” Leon stated, “should I have just left you to die?”

“That’s different”

“I wasn’t going to let you die Aurora!” Leon shouted, “not if I could help and I wasn’t going to stand by and let Marvin die either”

“There’s nothing you could have done,” Aurora stated boldly.

“GUYS!” Claire cut in before Leon could retort, “this is no time to argue. What happened to Marvin is bad enough, but we need to stick together in order to survive this. The situation is over now” she stated with finality 

“Sorry” they both chorused. Claire gauged them both. Leon looked down ashamed, while Aurora looked away from them, her eyebrows furrowed.

Claire nodded. She couldn’t help but agree with them both. Marvin was dying and there was nothing they could do for him, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be optimistic that there was still a slither of a chance that he’ll might come and that Marvin may survive. Having hope in a hopeless situation isn’t a bad thing, but it can lead to dangerous situations. Ones that Claire didn’t want to find herself in. 


	9. The Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the trio heading underground, they come across something weird.

The trio carefully made their way down the small dark stairwell. Upon making it to the bottom, the lights to a small room flickered on automatically, revealing a small, round room that looked like a study with wooden bookshelves as walls, and a desk. Nicknacks adorned a long dresser, including a model of what looked like the police station

“What the hell is this room and why is it here?” Aurora raised an eyebrow as the trio looked around. They managed to find shotgun ammo, acid rounds, a hip pouch and TMP ammo locked in a black box by he corner of the room.

“My brother said that there are a bunch of secret passageways around the station. Though he never mentioned this one”

“You mentioned him before, your brother, did you find anything?” Leon questioned

“I found something,” Claire muttered

“Was he an officer?”

“He worked for STARS. I came here looking for him, but so far I’m finding nothing but questions”

“You and me both,” Aurora sighed. “So what now?”

“We keep moving forward,” Leon stated as he pointed to the elevator next to the black box. Leon pressed the only button available and the gate pulled open for them. “Ladies first." Leon gestured to the two woman walked in

"Such a gentleman." Claire joked

“Or a clever mastermind,” Aurora raised an eyebrow at him with a smirk, their argument forgotten

“You’ll never know,” he joked as he pressed the button inside. The gates snapped closed and the elevator began moving downward. It took only a few seconds before it stopped at its destination. The gates snapped back open to a dark stairwell.

The three looked at each other and took out their weapons. Claire walked out first, flashlight on and shining down the stairs with Leon and Aurora following after her. As soon as they were out of the elevator, the doors snapped closed behind them again with a loud  clang.

They slowly crept down the stairs, lighting down into the empty space of the room. Everything seemed to be safe with no dead bodies lingering around. The sound of hissing and groaning pipes filled the silence between them as they came upon an open doorway where the sounds were coming from. Walking in, they were shocked to see a little girl.

“Hey” Leon called out. The girl girl jumped and looked to them with wide eyes before running away.

“Wait!” Claire called as the little girl disappeared through the other room.

As they moved to chase after her, the sound of someone groaning in pain passed by overhead along with a giant shadow filtering through the floor.

“What the-!?” Leon said in as they stilled and watched as the shadow turned a corner above them and disappeared, its groans becoming faint. There wasn’t any time to worry as they continued forward to get to the little girl. As they left through the long room, They stood on a metal catwalk above a giant room filled with even more steam and even more machines. The sounds of hissing and the groaning of each part working filled the room.

“Hey,” Claire called as the little girl crawled through the space of a tipped over cabinet that was blocking their entrance into the room. Putting her gun away, Claire bent down and looked through the small opening. Using her flashlight, Claire looked around the room until she found the little girl hiding behind some boxes.

“How did a little girl get down here anyway?” Aurora wondered, “Where did she even come from?”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Claire voiced softly, “I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

The little girl nodded her head as Claire smiled. “Is it okay if I come close?” The little girl nodded again. Claire tried crawling through the small, space but the fit was too tight.

“Leon, see if you push the cabinet a little so Claire can crawl through,” Aurora ordered.

“Roger,” Leon braced his hands on its side and began pulling it back, creating enough space for Claire to crawl through the space and reach the other side to get to the young girl.

“Hey, I’m Claire,” she introduced herself softly, “that’s Leon and Aurora, we’re here to help. What’s your name”

“Sh- Sherry,” the girl whispered out

“Well Sherry, there’s nothing to be afraid of now that we’re here”

Sherry gave a small smile as Leon heaved as he was able to push the cabinet back onto its feet. Aurora couldn’t help but swoon just a bit at his strength as she passed by him and made her way towards Claire, and the little girl. Just as Aurora made it to them, the girls smile dropped and she screamed as something dropped from the ground, separating Leon from the girls

Leon and Aurora backed away in horror as a monstrous amalgamation of a creature stood up. Half of its body was human with the blonde head of a man sticking out on the human side, but the other half was a deformed monstrous thing composed of exposed muscles and giant bone growth. The clothes fitted around it were mostly bulging at the seams or were torn away entirely.

“What the-!?” 

“Leon move!”

Everything happened in a flash. The thing lunged forward and snatched the front of Leon’s vest, picking him up off the floor and running out of the room. He slammed the officer into the metal grate beneath them before rearing back as it’s mutated shoulder seemed to expand even more so painfully. A giant red eyeball opened in the new space it created and rolled around before setting its gaze on Leon.

“Oh my god!”

“Leon!” Aurora shouted in fear

“We have to help him,” Claire declared

The little girl whimpered, catching both woman’s attention as she ran out of the room. Aurora groaned in frustration as everything was happening too fast to decipher. Leon’s grunts rang through the facility as the monster picked him up by his vest and slammed him over and over into the grate below until the floor beneath them began to give way until the grate finally buckled through. 

“LEON!”

Leon and the monster hit the floor below them painfully, both stunned. The brunette rolled over, groaning and clutching his chest trying to catch his breath. Aurora peered over the broken walkway, looking to see if Leon was alright and for a way to get him back up to her.

“LEON, GET UP!” Claire shouted. Leon, rolled onto his feet quickly, just in time for the monster to do the same. He backed away and watched it swing a giant metal pipe at him as it tried to get its footing. Thinking quickly, Aurora aimed the grenade launcher and shot a flame round at it, the monster quickly being engulfed in flames as Leon turned to run away.

“Claire, you get Sherry, I’ll stay and help Leon,” Aurora ordered as she reloaded

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Aurora nodded, “we have to make sure that the little girl is safe. God knows how she even managed to survive”

“Alright,” Claire nodded, “just be careful”

“You too”

* * *

Claire chased after Sherry. The little girl didn’t go far as the way forward was blocked as the walkway ended with a drop-off, a section of the floor hanging in the middle of the room away from where it was supposed to be. She found sherry by the control panel confused.

“Hey” Claire said quietly, making the small girl gasp in surprise, “it’s okay, you’re going to be fine”

“But that monster”

“It’s being taken care of. Those two won’t go down easy from what I can see. Besides, it’ll have to deal with me next if it comes back again,” she joked with a smile

Sherry smiled, but it was quickly wiped off of her face as a loud wailing rang through the room.

“We should get away from here,” Claire suggested

“The thing,” Sherry pointed to the panel, “I don’t know how to make it move”

Claire walked up the panel and the first thing that caught her attention was a lever that stood high against all the other button. Pulling the lever, It seemed to work as the separated platform began moving over to continue the walkway. Claire looked at Sherry and the two smiled as the walkway slowly clicked into place.

The two continued forward walkway leading them to a small room. In the room Claire turned to Sherry. “So, what brought you down here?”

“I’m looking for my mom”

“Your mom?”

“Can you help me find her?”

“Yes, of course I’ll help you,” Claire agreed without a thought. “You think she’s down here?”

“I think so..” Sherry trailed, “I hope so”

“Why do you think that?”

“My mom.. she works a lot,” Sherry said looking down sadly, “I know it’s important because she’s making a important medicine, but I don’t get to see her a lot”

“And your dad?”

“He worked with my mom, but... he’s gone now”

Claire placed a hand in the little girls shoulder. She knew what it was like not to have her parents. However she was lucky enough to have her older brother Chris with her. With him she was never felt alone. He taught her everything she knew, and she was thankful to have him in her life.

“Looks like we got something in common,” Claire smiled and Sherry smiled back

“Do you really think they’ll be okay?” Sherry asked referring to Leon and Aurora

“Positive,” Claire said in confidence. “In the meantime, let’s see where this leads and if it actually leads out of the station like Leon said.” Around the corner was a ladder that led to a manhole cover above them. As she told sherry to wait, Claire climbed up the ladder and carefully removed the manhole cover.

It was a garage. An embody garage. Removing the cover Claire called down to Sherry and crawled out of the hole. As she helped Sherry out, Claire jogged I’ve to the shut gate.

“Damn it,” she sighed and looked over at the parking meter. “We need a parking pass”

Claire sighed and looked over at the gate. There must be some way to get out of the garage.

“ Sherry !”

The two jumped and turned at the new voice.

“ I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Sherry...”

* * *

As Claire ran after Sherry, Aurora watched as the monster gave chase to Leon. There was no way she was going to be jumping down, but she can help Leon from her spot if she can keep hitting it with her grenade launcher.

As Leon appeared, Aurora called down to him. “Leon, if you get him closer, I can shoot him with the grenade launcher!”

“Got it!” Leon shouted as the monster appeared, swinging the metal pole as Leon ducked and dodged it. With the monster in sight, Aurora shot a flame round, lighting the monster up with fire. As the monster flailed about and fell to its knees, it gave Leon the opportunity to pump a few shots of the shotgun into its flesh.

It didn’t seem to do much as the monster swung and Leon stepped back. Getting back to it’s feet, the monster chased after Leon, who disappeared as he turned a corner. Aurora reloaded as she heard gunshots ring about. She watched with baited breath as Leon appeared with the monster right behind him. She sighed, but then screamed in horror as the thing grabbed Leon’s head and picked him up.

“LEON!” she screamed in horror as Leon screamed in pain. Shooting the grenade launcher, she watched as Leon grabbed something on his belt and threw it on the ground. A loud bang echoed and Aurora covered her eyes as a bright flash blondes her. She heard the monster scream as more gunshot echoed. Opening g her eyes, she seen Leon run away again. Reloading fast, Aurora shot one more flame round. Hitting the monster as it disappeared after him.

Looking around, Aurora looked for something that would help Leon get up. Finding a ladder she kicked it down, freezing as she realized the it was quiet. “Leon,” she called out, “if you’re alive say something.”

“Aurora,” Leon called. Letting out a deep breath Aurora smiled as Leon came into sight. She stepped back as leon climbed up the ladder and stood in front of her. She wanted to hug him, but decided not to

“Thank god you didn’t die”

“You and me both. Where’s Claire and the little girl,” Leon looked around

“The girl ran away so I told Claire to run after her.”

“Let’s go find them then”

“Your ability to just walk that experience off is astounding,” Aurora blinked as they continued forward. They reached a small staircase that went up to a control room. Past it, the walkway continued and led them to a small room with nothing inside of it besides flame rounds and shotgun ammo. As they turned the corner there was a ladder that led to a manhole cover above them.

“I’ll go first to check things out, when I say it’s okay you come up”

“Got it”

Leon nodded as he climbed up the ladder. Slowly he lifted the manhole cover to peak out. “Shit“ Leon grunted as he carefully pushed the manhole cover away and slowly crawled out. Claire was tied up and on the ground with a gun pointed to her head as he held onto the little girl who was yelling and struggling in his hold. Pulling out his gun he aimed it at the man in front of him, “let them go,” Leon ordered as he crept closer

“For fucks sake,” the man hollered as his hold tightened on the little girl.

“Leon,” Claire called, “forget about me, help Sherry”

“Move and the girl is dead,” the man declared as he pointed his gun at Claire. “now drop the gun”

Leon narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know if he should shoot or not. If he shot, the man had mod than enough time to shoot Claire, and Leon didn’t want his actions to kill her killed. But the man was dangerous and trying to take the little girl and he couldn’t have that. Leon didn’t know what to do. Before Leon could make a decision, a growl echoed from behind him and he was knocked to the ground, his gun falling out of his grip in the process.

Claire shouted as she watched Leon struggle. He used his arms to hold the dog back the best that he could, It’s snapping jaws were mere inches from his face. During the commotion the man was able to pull Sherry away, opening the shutters with his keycard and escaping from the Parkin garage.

Just as Claire escaped from her bonds and reached for her gun, a gunshot rang out and the barking of the dog stopped.

“Hey.” Leon sat up onto his elbows, as he snd Claire looked in the direction of the voice in the dark part of the garage

“Who is that?” he asked out breathlessly. Near a light, they could see the outline of a woman.

“Stay sharp.” The dog began grumbling and was trying to get back up. Leon grabbed his gun at breakneck speed and shot it down before it could. The two looked at the dog until high heeled footsteps caught their attention. Leon raised his gun at the mysterious lady just as Claire did the same. She was wearing a beige long overcoat that draped over black tights on long legs. On her feet were black stilettos and sunglasses over her eyes. A black-gloved hand aimed her handgun and a green plaid scarf was wrapped around her neck

“How many more people are hiding out in this fucking garage,” Claire commented

“Lower it,” she warned as she pulled it a badge and held it up to them, “F.B.I.”

“Sorry...Thank yo-,” he was interrupted as she slowly aimed her gun to the dog’s corpse and shot at it’s still moving figure, the dog stopped moving and Leon looked back to her. They watched as she lowered her gun. “For your help.”

“Surprised you both made it this far,” she replied, keeping her voice low before turning and walking in the opposite direction. Leon quickly hopped onto his feet and followed her

“F.B.I., huh? What’s going on here?”

“Sorry. That information’s classified.”

“You can’t be serious?” Claire scoffed.

“Where are you going?” Leon persisted, stopping the mystery lady. She turned, clearly annoyed at them.

“Do yourselves a favor: stop asking questions and get the hell out of here,” she ordered then turned and walked to the door on the opposite side of the lot. The light above it, as well as another on the other side, was green.

“Hey! I’m not done talking to you!” the officer shouted as she disappeared behind the door.

“Leon leave it,” Claire said and looked around, “where’s Aurora?”

“Here,” said woman called as she crawled out the man hole cover, “and confused as hell. What happened?”

“Long story short, some man kidnapped Sherry, there’s zombie dogs, and an FBI woman is lurking around”

“Oh great,” Aurora deadpanned, “what more can happen. Now what?”

“We get Sherry,” Claire declared, “but we need a garage pass to get out of the garage”

“Leon, do you have one since you work for the station?”

“Nope, first day remember, all that was supposed to be given to me today. at this point and time, our objective is to find a keycard to get out of this place”

“First medallions and now keycards, what else are we going to have to look for to get out of this place,” Aurora threw her hands up

“We should split up,” Claire suggested

“Good idea, I’ll go that way,” Leon pointed towards the direction of the woman, and you two can take the other two door”

“What are we Scooby doo?” Aurora joked, “I’m not separating from either of you.

“That’s fine, We’ll keep in contact with the radios. If one of us finds a garage pass we radio each other that we did and go from there”

“Got it,” Claire nodded

“I’ll go with Claire this time then,” Aurora said. “Make sure she doesn’t get ambushed by anyone again or whatever”

Nodding the three knew what their next step was. Get the garage pass and save Sherry from the fat pudgy man, all while surviving the knowledge that there are now zombie dogs running around. If it wasn’t real, Aurora would laugh at the absurdity of how the situation keeps changing. She couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen next if they managed to get out of the garage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how perfectly blended the garage works for both scenarios and how it doesn’t hinder anything while adding more to it. It just works so seamlessly even in gameplay as they still have to go their separate ways to find the keycards.
> 
> I feel like I could have cut the last part for the next chapter.. but it felt weird just cutting that part of the story when those parts lead to the next part.... IDK


	10. Aurora and Claire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora and Claire split from Leon to search for the Keycard to get out of the police station. What they find is unsettling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mixed the Remake notes with the OG notes for this one.

As Leon broke away from the group, Aurora and Claire made their way towards the open door on the furthest right. “That must be where that bastard came from,” Claire said as the walked into the room.

“I meant to ask, are you okay. That bruise on your face looks nasty”

“I’m fine, I just want to find sherry and pay him back”

“Do you know who he was?”

“Not a clue”

As they reached a corner at the end of the hall, they noticed an open magazine sitting on a table against the wall.

** Attention all a Raccoon city heroes! **

** Who's the most feared, yet respected man in town? The answer should be obvious to any resident of our fair city. **

** That's right! It's police chief Brian Irons: the man that scares the bejeezus out of criminals everywhere and stern father that loves every last one of us sinful citizens. **

** Chief Irons is known for his great charity work, including big contributions to the orphanage, support for abused women, art preservation, animal conservation–let us know if we've missed anything! Just when does our great hero sleep!? When asked,” **

** “The city is my extended family. I'm just doing what I'd do for my family," Chief Irons said with a soft smile. **

The two looked at the picture of a familiar looking man wearing a police uniform. Claire gasped, “That’s the man who took Sherry”

“The police chief!” Aurora eyes widened, “what would the police chief want with a little girl?”

Closing the magazine, Claire clenched her fist. “Who cares, lets hurry.”

Turning they came across a locked door with a diamond in the middle of it. Aurora scoffed, as they backed away and turned their attention to the elevator. ‘Express elevator to chief irons office. Not for general use.’ Aurora scoffed and pressed the elevator button. Nothing happened.

“We need to turn the power on,” Claire said as she looked through the window into the control room,

“Which means we need to find the diamond key, of which we don’t know where it even is”

“It must be down here somewhere,” Claire said as she ran a hand through her hair frustrated, “come on, let’s look around

As they turned, Claire found a map of the parking garage. The two looked it over and mapped along where they should search. The firing range, and the morgue is where they decided they would look. “We’re going to have to check the bodies, so we have to make sure if we come across any of the zombies, we kill them dead”

“They mean the same thing, but I get what you mean”

“Don’t be a smart ass,” Claire smiled.

Leaving the elevator passageway, the duo made their way through the opened door to their left next to their door. it was very dark inside with a dim red light lit somewhere in the hallway. They carefully walked in and immediately tensed at the sound of a group of howling and growling somewhere in a room nearby.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Aurora noted

They went to the firing range first as it was closest. It was pitch dark inside, their flashlights shining brightly through the room. In the actual range, two dead officers lay on the floor, unmoving. On a table across from the shooting booths was a yellow metal box and a piece of paper. Ignoring the paper, Aurora opened the box and only found a bent car key and nothing else. Sucking her teeth, Aurora placed the key back in the metal box.

Moving on, they found two doors at a bend in the room. One door led to the range, while another was locked with the pink diamond insignia. “Since they’re down, I wouldn’t waste bullets on them,” Aurora said

“Good call”

Grabbing their knives, Aurora and Claire crept into the room. As their were only two zombies inside the range, they each crept up to one and stabbed them through the heads. They zombies hissed and lunged, but fell the ground dead after a second. Taking their knives, the two girls checked the pockets of the now dead zombie officers. Nothing again. The only useful thing found in the room was acid rounds that aurora packed away. She has yet to actually use the acid rounds and wondered how affective acid would be on zombies.

The pair walked back to the dark hallway and took the right pathway towards their undesired location. Turning the corner, the hallway was blocked off by a blockade, leaving the only way to the other side through the kennel. The growling and barking came to a stop and the two cautiously opened the door. Flashing a light in the room, they found one of the lickers eating at the corpses of the zombie dogs.

Aiming the grande launcher, Aurora shot a flame round, engulfing the licker in fire as it flailed and screamed. Aurora and Claire watched as the monster fell stopped moving as it fell to the ground, blackened and charred from the fire.

“I guess they don’t like fire,” Aurora said as she Claire walked into the room while reloading

“Good thing you have those flame rounds then”

“I know”

A screeching echoed through the room as another licker ran past the corner and ran towards them. Swearing, Aurora took out her grenade launcher and shot and the licker. As that one was engulfed, another one appeared, jumping at Claire and knocking her to the ground. “Shit Claire,” Aurora called, but fell back in pain as something scratched her arm. Looking, she found the second licker place it’s tongue back in its mouth before falling over dead.

Looking back to Claire, the girl managed to stab the licker in its head, and kicked it off of her. Reloading quickly, Aurora shot another flame round as the licker jumped at them, shooting it out of the air. Not wasting anytime, the two rushed around the corner and out of the kennel. Past it was a continuation of the hallway that was blockaded leading to another fork. According to the map, the door right in front of them was the morgue, while the other way led to the generator room. That way however was blocked by a giant metal gate, so they couldn’t continue on and decided to check the morgue. they would check the morgue first.

It was just as dark in the morgue as it was to the rest of that section of the parking structure. Walking in, they were met with a dead man lying by the door, but he didn’t move as they passed. Using her knife Aurora stabbed it with her knife. Looking around, the two looked around. There were rows of metal cold lockers along each wall, but the middle of the room was a mess of cleaning supplies and carts.

“So, are you going to open the lockers, because I’m not going to do it”

“Do I have a choice then,” Claire said as she stabbed one of the lone bodies through the head. Carefully, she watched claire pull back one the trays only to find...nothing. She opened another, only to fall back as it was filled with giant roaches. Closing that, Claire opened another to find a flash grenade. In another the body spasmed so hard it caused Aurora and Claire to shriek in surprise. This went on for another minute.

Finally, they made it to the last locker. Claire pulled back the tray watching the dead man carefully when the mans closed fist caught her attention. Peeling his hands open, Claire smiled as she picked up the pink diamond key. With it in her hand, Claire turned to see Aurora reading something when she was a pair of hands grabbed her. Jumping, Claire backed away from the arms, only for the body to fall and roll to the ground.

The zombie groaned as Claire took her gun out, she emptied 6 shots before the zombie fell to the ground.

“So did you find anything?”

“If you mean did I find the key, then yeah I did,” Claire smirked as she held up the diamond key

“Oh thank god,” Aurora breathed a sigh of relief. “Now that I think about it, what kind of museum requires different sets of shaped keys. That doesn’t seem practical or smart”

“Tell me about it,” Claire said as the two made their way out of the morgue.

They found Leon who opened the shutters of the closed off are with a crank. Aurora raised an eyebrow at the crank but said nothing about it as they approached Leon who turned to look at them.

“Found anything?” Aurora asked

“I found a keycard,” Leon revealed, “it’s in a jail cell and I need two electrical parts in order to unlock it”

“That’s good, do you know where those pieces are?

“One of those pieces is in the clocktower, but I don’t know where the other is, but i’m banking on the generator room. What about you two?”

“Well we found out that it was chief Irons that took Sherry.” At the revelation Leon’s eyes widened. “Me and Aurora found an elevator that goes to his office, we just needed a key to turn the power to the elevator on, which we have.”

“Wait, why would chief Irons kidnap a little girl?”

“We don’t know,” Aurora shrugged as she studied his face, “did something happen regarding chief irons”

“There was a man in the jail cell,he was a reporter bamed Ben. He said chief Irons put him there because he found something out”

“What did he find out?”

“Don’t know, he was killed before he can say what”

Claire and Aurora looked at Leon in worry as his head dropped and his face turned pale as he thought back to how Ben died. When Leon looked up, his face was back to normal “Claire, Aurora, there’s something else here”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s unlike the dogs and the lickers and the zombies. It’s something sentient. Something strong enough to pop a mans head with it’s bare hands and break through walls”

“Jesus,” Claire breathed

“Just what the hell is going on here,” Aurora said for what felt like the millionth time that night

“I don’t know, but I plan to find out,” Leon declared.

“If you’re going to the generator room to find a spare part, me and Claire are going to head up to chief Irons office. When you get that, meet us there okay”

“Roger”

With a clear understanding of what they would be doing and where they plan on going, Leon made his way towards the generator room while Aurora and Claire made their way towards elevator passageway. With the diamond key, they would be able to turn on the power to the elevator and search irons office for any clues as to where he would have taken sherry and what he wants with her.

As the reached the elevator control room, they looked around for anything useful. In one of the lockers Aurora found a shoulder stock. Looking it over, she wondered what weapon the stock was for.

“Find anything,”

“What’s this shoulder thing for?”

“That’s for your grenade launcher,” Claire said, “it’ll help you aim the weapon better and stabilize the trajectory”

“How do you know that?”

“My brother,” Claire said as she helped Aurora upgrade the grenade launcher, “he taught me a lot of things growing up. How to fight, how to handle a gun and different firearms, how to drive too”

“You two must be close”

“We are,” Claire smiled, “it’s why I want to find him. I haven’t heard from him in months and I know somethings not right”

“Did you find anything in the STARS office?”

“Yeah, he’s investigating umbrella. Says that they’re responsible for some mansion incident and creating this zombie virus or something. I knew he was acting weird after his last mission, but to cut me off-“ Claire trailed with a sigh

“Wait, Like the zombies that overran the city?”

“I guess. He didn’t want to tell me because he thinks I would be out in danger, but why would I be in danger of a pharmaceutical company? There’s no reason why he couldn’t just tell me”

“He’s lucky to have such a devoted sister,” Aurora smiled, “even though I came here for my family, I can’t imagine facing all of this just to look for them because we haven’t spoken in months”

Claire laughed and turned on the power to the elevator. Walking into the elevator, the two waited as the elevator went up. As they reached the office, Aurora and Claire looked around the office. It was incredibly clean and well kept. There was an array of various stuffed animals decorated around the room which aurora found weird with how many was in the room. Other than that, the room was nicely decorated.

Aurora checked his computer first. Fortunately for her, the chief didn’t lock his computer before he left, which made it easier for Aurora to get into his emails. As she clicked around, an interesting set of emails caught her attention.

**Police Chief Irons,**

**We have lost the mansion lab facility due to the renegade operative, Albert Wesker. Fortunately, his interference will have no lasting effects upon our continued virus research.**

**As thanks for your unwavering support, I have deposited a small sum into your account, to use as you see fit. I hope I can count on you to maintain surveillance over your subordinates, especially the ones who survived that mansion. Continue to monitor their progress and make certain their knowledge does not go public Get rid of them if you must. Annette will continue to be your contact throughout this affair.**

**W. B.**

**Police chief Irons,**

**I have deposited the amount of US $10,000 to the account for your services this term as per our agreement.**

**The development of the G-virus scheduled to replace the T-virus, is near completion. Once completed, I am certain that I will be appointed to be a member of the executive board for Umbrella Inc.**

**It is imperative that we proceed with extreme caution. The remaining S.T.A.R.S. members are still attempting to uncover information on the project. Continue to monitor their activities and block all attempts to investigate the underground research facilities.**

**W.B**

**Police Chief Irons,**

**I ran into some trouble with Umbrella headquarters. The suits want to take the fruit of my research away. But don't worry, this will all blow over soon. You just keep doing what I tell you to and everything will be all right.**

**W. B.**

**Police Chief Irons,**

**You are to up the security around my lab. Your muscleheads are to shoot any suspicious person on sight. Doesn't matter if they kill them, or even if they're Umbrella employees. I'm so close to completing G, and no asshole is going to get in my way.**

**W. B.**

**Police Chief Irons,**

**Get your shit together and do your fucking job! I TOLD YOU I need more security in the sewers! Don't you know how critical of a time this is for me!? As for the money, I can pay you whatever once I take over, but not before. Why don't you get that!? Never forget how expendable you are.**

**W. B.**

The sound of the elevator surprised both Claire and Aurora. Leon was leaned against the door breathing heavily as he held an electrical part in his hand. Claire and Aurora looked at one another and back to Leon who made us way into the room still breathing heavily.

“You okay there Leon?”

“Yeah,” Leon breathed, “was chased by a horde of dogs and barely escaped with my life, but at least it was worth it for this,” Leon held up an electronic part”

“Great, we just need one more and we’re as good as out of this place”

“Don’t jinx it”

“What were you two doing before I got here?” Leon asked as he looked around the nicely decorated room.

“Snooping,” Claire said as she put down the notebook she found on the round table in the middle of the room

“Find anything”

“Well it seems chief Irons was using his power to take under the table money. Some man was paying the chief for protection against umbrella. I don’t know whether he was an employee or not”

“And take a look at this,” Claire said as she handed leon a leather bound book. Raising an eyebrow. He took it from Claire and opened up to the bookmarked page.

**September 23rd**

**It's all over. Those imbeciles from Umbrella have finally done it... Despite all their promises, they've ruined my town. Soon the streets will be infested with zombies. I'm beginning to think that I may be infected myself. I'll kill everyone in town if this turns out to be true!!!**

**September 24th**

**I was successful in spreading confusion among the police as planned. I've made sure that no one from the outside will come to help.**

**With the delays in police actions, no one will have the chance to escape my city alive. I've seen to it personally that all escape routes from inside the precinct have been cut off as well.**

**There are several survivors still attempting to escape through the lower levels, but I'll make sure no one gets out.**

**September 26th**

**I've had a change of heart about the remaining survivors inside the precinct. I've decided to hunt them down myself.**

**I shot Ed in the back through the heart less than an hour ago. I watched him writhe in pain upon the floor in a pool of his own blood. The expression on his face was positively exquisite. He died with his eyes wide open, staring up at me. It was beautiful.**

**I wonder if the mayor's daughter is still alive? I let her escape so I could enjoy hunting her down later...**

**I'm going to enjoy my new trophy. Yes, frozen forever in the pose I choose to give her.**

Leon threw the boom across the room and ran a hand through his hair. Everything was the chiefs fault. He paced around the room, trying to get his mind right. Leon and Claire looked at each other and turned back to Leon, watching him pace in worry as he crouched in the ground.

“Leon,” Aurora said softly, “are you alright”

“It was all his fault, he was the reason why the station fell to shit and Ben was right?”

“What?” Claire and Aurora looked at Leon who looked at them with guilt in his eyes.

“He said that police chief Irons locked him in that cell, that there was this conspiracy regarding umbrella and chief irons was somehow involved.. this must be what he meant by that.. and I didn’t believe him.. I’m the reason why he died in that cell”

“Hey, Leon, it’s not your fault,” Claire said softly, “you didn’t know any better, and there was no reason for you to suspect anything was wrong with the police chief”

“That and the cage couldn’t be opened without the electric parts anyway, so even if you wanted to, you wouldn’t have been able to get him out anyway,” Aurora added. Claire looked at the woman with an incredulous look, to which Aurora shrugged. It was the truth.

“Let’s just go,” Leon sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. Walking over to the door he twisted the knob, “great the doors locked”

“What type of ass backwards museum was this “ Aurora said as she walked over to the door and glared at the heart shape placed in the middle of the door. “First they think that a specific door should only be opened based on a specific shape, now the doors also lock from the inside too.. how is any of that efficient”

“Never mind that,” Claire said as she opened the only other door in the room, “this seems to be the only way we can go in this office. Let’s check it out”

The three went through the room and was immediately greeted with a ferocious looking stuffed tiger. Walking past it, Aurora wondered how he was able to make the face stay the way it did. They walked down the hall and turned a corned just to go through another door. The room was small and crowded. A large shelf adorned with Knick knacks stood in the middle of the room, dividing it as a cage was located beside the door that covered an entire corned section of the room.

The trio looked around the room, Aurora finding acid rounds on one of the tall shelves in the process as she looked through various trinkets. Claire looked overturned all the stuffed animals and paintings on the wall, while Leon checked allthe knick knacks on the other side of the the shelf. Towards the end of the room where a peculiar frame sat on an end table caught Leon’s attention. It was a simple thing with two ceramic woman on their knees as they looked to be praying to a red ceramic heart above them. Raising an eyebrow, leon turned the thing over and smiled. Taped to the back was the heart key. Takin* the key, Leon placed the frame back down and made his way towards the two girls.

“Found it”

“We’re all one for one,” Aurora noted as she high fives Leon

As the trio turned to return back to the office the phone rang. Stoping in their tracks, the trio looked at one another for reassurance at what they just heard. The phone rang again, and they turned. There, on the other side of the cage sat a phone.

“Is, is the phone ringing?”

“I thought Marvin said all communication was cut off,” Leon remarked

“I guess being a shady police chief has its exceptions.” Aurora shrugged, “but who cares, because with this we can call someone for help,” Aurora smiled as she walked towards the cage. Pushing the door, it wouldn’t open. “The hell,” Aurora tried opening the cage again

“The power box is missing a part,” Leon said as he checked the electrical box. “It’s just like the prison doors, I guess there was a lot of things that needed to be fixed”

“So now what?”

“We get an electrical part for that. Once we do, we ask for help, and then use the parking pass to leave the station and wait for said help,” Claire planned

“Sounds like a plan”

The trio nodded and made their way out of chief irons office. The trio was now back in the police station on the second floor hallway. Looking to the side, the hall was blocked off by a metal shutter. There wasn’t any way to open them leaving the stairs as the only other option. “The East storage should be on the third floor”

“So up the stairs it is”

Making their way up the stairs, they came across more handgun ammo, and a flash grenade. There were two doors in the hall justopposite of each other. Opening the one closer to the stairs they found the storage room. As the door creaked open, they could hear the moans and groans of zombies. Leon and Claire took out their guns as the carefully made their way inside. The room was dimly lit with a single working light that shined in one spot. There was a door just across the way that would lead to the third floor in the main hall. Another door to their left was a heart door.

The trio carefully walked in, peering through the shelves of boxes to find their targets. They got near the heart door and heard a loud howl, as a zombie charged from the corner. The trio backed up as the zombie outstretched it’s hand and lunged. Claire and Leon wasted no time shooting the zombie multiple times in the head until it fell over. As Claire reached the door, the sound of another zombie growled. Using the heart key, she rushed into the room just as the zombies attention turned to Leon and Aurora.

With one shot Leon blew the zombies head, the sound making Aurora cringe from so close.

“Nice shot”

“Thanks”

As Claire looked around the heart room, Leon and Aurora looked around the storage for an electronic part. They found some shotgun shells, and flame rounds but nothing else of any help. There was a door at the end of the closet, but it was locked from the other side. Finding nothing else, the two met with Claire outside of the storage room.

“Found a part,” Claire smiled as she held up the small square piece

“No luck here,” Leon said, “I guess I’m headed to the clocktower

“Good plan, but there’s just one problem,” Aurora said, “that metal shutter is blocking our way into the rest of the station”

“Good point” Claire said

“No problem, we just need to find another way around.” Looking around, Leon made his way over to the only other door in the hall and twisted the knob, the door opening to the raining outside. “And we found it,” he smiled as he gestured for the two girls to walk out first.

“But it’s raining,” Aurora said as Claire made her way out first

“What’s a little rain,” Claire joked, “unless you want to wait here by yourself for me and Leon to run around the station to find something to open the shutter and come and get you”

Looking down at her outfit, and then back up to the rain outside, Aurora sighed and walked out into the rain. Unlike Claire who had a jacket, and Leon who had a thick Officer uniform, the only thing protecting Aurora from the rain was a long sleeved halter top sweater and jeans that she could already feel the rain seeping in to. It was going to be a bitch if they soaked all the way through.

To their left, there was a ladder that led down to an outside area of the station. The courtyard was bathed in the orange glow of the helicopter fire that had happened earlier.

With the two girls out, Leon walked out and let the door close behind him. Claire went down the ladder first, checking the courtyard to make sure it’s safe before calling the two down. Aurora went second, followed by Leon. As the officer began climbing down he only made it a few steps before the ladder creaked loudly under him. With a loud crack, the ladder suddenly broke apart in his hands causing him to sway in the air dangerously. Aurora and Claire’s eyes widened as theladder swung back and caused both it and Leon to fall to the ground, the bang of the metal hitting the floor was loud, but not as loud as the unlucky officer’s painful grunt.

Aurora tried, she honest to god tried, not laugh. No matter how hard she tried to keep her lips in a thin line, they curled up. No matter how hard she tried to keep her mouth closed, they kept opening and a small laugh would escape. Claire was in the same predicament.

“Are- are you okay?” Claire was able to let out as she covered her laugh with a cough

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Leon grunted as he stood up. Looking at the pair of woman, he rolled his eyes at their failure to hold in their laughter. Dusting himself off, he looked up at the broken ladder. “Guess we can’t go back that way”

“No kidding,” Aurora said, clearing her throat as her laughter subsided

“We can’t go through the police station unless we can put the fire on the helicopter out”

“So we best look around then,” Aurora sighed. The roof wasn’t that big. The only way to go was down the stairs, but Leon said it only went to the boiler room and nothing else.

“Guys,” Claire said, “I think I might have found the solution to our problem,” she walked over to a broken pipe that was connected to a small mechanism near the ladder, a small trickle of water falling from it. Pressing the lever attached to it, Claire jumped out of the way as a stream of water fell down.

“That’s good an all, but how are we going to bring that over to the flaming helicopter?”

“We follow the pipes downward,” Leon pointed. “Claire you stay while me and Aurora look down the steps”

“Thank you for volunteering me,” Aurora rolled her yes. Claire chuckled and watched as the two made their way down the stairs. As they made it down the stairs, they walked towards what Leon called, the boiler room. As they got closer to the room the sound of a door being jiggled in its frame caught their attention.

“Can they open doors?” Aurora questioned just as the door slammed open and a pair of zombies came stumbling out. Leon quickly took action and began shooting, Aurora falling suit quickly. Once the two zombies were down, the pair continued on. On the wall near the boiler room was a lever that was labeled to go either left or right. As Leon inspected, Aurora made her way inside the boiler room, the sound of Leon radioing Claire being heard as she walked inside.

The room wasn’t anything special. Just a small room that held all the machinery for the boilers with a door the led to another room. Aurora didn’t find anything in the first room besides shotgun shells which she picked up for Leon. Inside the other room was much the same. There was a desk, a whiteboard, and amblack box, but no ammo or anything. On the whiteboard was a key taped to it and circled with a marker,  ‘Someone lose a key?’ Was written on a sticky note next to it. Noticing the club symbol Aurora took it just in case. They now had a spade key, a diamond key, a heart key, and now a club key. It was like a complete set.

“Aurora!” She heard her name being called by Leon. Leaving the room, the officer was waiting by the stairs. “Fires out.” Nodding, Aurora followed Leon back you the stairs where they met with Claire.

Walking inside the building, they trio carefully made there way through the hallway and the rounded the corner that led to the helicopter. “So how are we going to get through?”

“I think we can squeeze past it,” Claire said.

As they approached it, the vehicle began to suddenly move as something on the other side began to pick up via the tail. They froze and watched in terror as a giant grey hulk of a man clad in a black leather trench coat shoved the copter into the wall with ease. It cleared the path, but now stood in the way of them and the rest of the building. It's fedora cover head looked at them with a blank expression then began to stalk towards them with thundering footsteps.

“Holy shit,” Leon breathed.

Panicking, Aurora shot a flame round at the monster, it’s body engulfing in flames but not slowing as if it didn’t feel the flames. Turning, the trio ran back out into the rain. The monster followed them out, staring all three down as if deciding on who to go after first. It didn’t have to look long as Leon shot first, hitting the monster in its head and knocking the fedora off. The thing’s giant hand reached up to tap at the empty space before cracking its neck loudly and decided on who it would go after.

As it stalked towards Leon, Aurora and Claire were able to rush past it. As Leon’s shouting could be heard, Claire clenched her teeth and switched her weapons. Now holding her sub machine gun, Claire pulled the trigger, a flurry of bullets hitting the thing directly in its head. The thing turned but stumbled back, giving Leon the opportunity to rush past it. As she ran out of bullets, Aurora shot a flame round, making the monster fall to its knees.

“Go get that last part,” Claire ordered as she reloaded, “me and Aurora will hold it off”

“You and who will do what!” Aurora shouted with wide eyes

“Just go!” Claire demanded

Nodding Leon ran past them and back into the building. The thing was now back on its feet and the two woman looked at one another. Taking a deep breath, they both ran inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter like three times because I didn’t know how to mix the police station part and the electronic parts parts for both Leon and Claire. But I think it all worked out. This issue was with framing and the layout of the police station.


	11. Divide and Conquer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio splits up, gets back together, then splits up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I can’t write suspense for crap. I didn’t know how many times I could convey the same thing in different ways, that doesn’t make the scene or chapter feel like it’s dragging along. I have to figure that out.

Aurora’s heart pounded in her chest as the monsters thunderous footsteps roared behind her. She needed a place to hide and fast.

She rushed through the reception and found herself in the familiar dark corridor she was in early. Her footsteps were loud in the hall and the screeching of a licker could be heard as it appeared on the ceiling. Aurora screamed, and ducked as the licker lunged. She could feel her blood rushing as she turned the corner and a fat zombie was in her way. Shooting another flame round, Aurora spotted a door with a club on it. Taking out the keys she quickly rushed inside the room, closing the door and hiding behind a linen rack to keep out of sight.

The room was incredibly small and she hoped that the tyrant wouldn’t be able to spot her.. she heard it’s footsteps, and her heart skipped as the door opened and the giant peaked its head in. She covered her mouth as it fit it’s body through the door until it was fully in. She could only hope that it didn’t have super hearing like the lickers, because her heart would give her away.

She watched as it turned its head, and walked towards the back of the room. She hoped it wouldn’t turn the corner... her eyes followed it until it reached the end, it’s black trench coat in plain sight of her... Aurora wondered if she could sneak out of the room while the thing was occupied. All she was close to the door, and she bet she could have ran out before the monster could have reached her..

She contemplated on whether she would run or not. The purpose was to distract the monster so that Leon could get the last electric part. But survival was also something that needed to be prioritized.

It felt like an eternity, and when the thunderous boots of the monster made its way towards the door and out the room, Aurora let out the breath she was holding in. But she stilled as she could still head the boots as it made its way through the halls... she wondered what Claire was doing and if Claire was safe. They had to split up to cover more ground, and the thing went after Aurora first. She didn’t want to split up, but splitting up was the best move for them both.

As the footsteps disappeared, Aurora took three deep breaths before deciding to look around. There was nothing in the room sans another portable safe that she kept on her instead of opening, and a grenade. Pocketing those things, she took another breath. There was a door with a heart, but she couldn’t get through it. Claire had the heart key.

She was quiet when she left the room, the licker wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and the zombie that was in the hall was now facing away. Silently, she walked down the hall, and made a break for it until she reached the operations room. Making her way to the room on the opposite side, she froze as she heard gunshots in the hall. It must have been Claire running away.

As the footsteps passed the room, Aurora waited an extra second before leaving. Rushing down the hall Claire screamed. She was on the floor with a licker on top of her as the monster stepped closer and closer.

“Claire?!” Aurora shouted as she rushed towards her. Making her way past the tyrant, she reared her leg back and kicked the licker as hard as she could in the head. She couldn’t rejoice as her head was grabbed in a tight grip. Aurora screamed and struggled in the grip the monster had on her. It was getting tighter and tighter by the second as Aurora’s kicks had no affect on it. She heard Claire struggling behind her and the sound if the submachine gun going off.

Clenching her teeth, Aurora reached behind her and grabbed the grenade she picked up. Pulling the pin, she threw it on the ground. A few seconds later, a loud explosion shook the hall and she was dropped to the ground. She felt herself being dragged along the ground as she tried to get her head back together. She heard the thunderous footsteps, and then a door opening and then gunshots.

Aurora got to her feet and stumbled. Falling into what she assumed was a table, she took a couple of deep breaths to get herself together, ignoring the footsteps from above her and everything going on.. she thought of her mother who would be proud of her for surviving, of her eldest sisters who would think she was crazy, of her younger brother who would want to know everything down to the last detail of her experience, and her younger sister who would brag about what she would have done in her position.

The echoing sounds of a bell ringing snapped Aurora out of her thoughts. Taking one last deep breath Aurora’s head stopped throbbing. Turning, she turned on the light of the room and started to look around. It was a room she hasn’t entered before, but it had some useful items inside, handgun ammo and 2 flame rounds. Reloading, Aurora made her way out of the room. She hoped and prayed that Leon for the part he needed.

Running up the stairs, she found herself back in the men’s locker room. Walking through the showers she found herself in a dark hall where the monster was looking through one of the doors. She wondered if Claire was inside.

“Hey,” Aurora yelled. The monster snapped its head her way just as Aurora shot it with an acids round. The monster stalked towards her and Aurora backed up. Placing the grenade launcher on her back, Aurora grabbed her gun and started shooting at the head. As the monster stood a few inches away, it reared its fist back to punch. Thinking quickly, Aurora dodged under it. Now behind the monster, she continued shoot until it stumbled forward. Taking no time to reload, Aurora ran down the hall and turned the corner, the monsters footsteps followed behind her.

Rushing through the door at the end of the hall, Aurora raised an eyebrow at the room she found herself in. The unicorn statue was there. Shaking her head, Aurora rushed through the opposite door, and found herself in the library.She rushed passed all the dead bodies and ran back out into the lobby. At this point, going in a circle was the only option she had. She didn’t know another way back to the chiefs office where the elevator was, and she didn’t know where Claire or Leon was.

Panicked spiked through aurora as the thought of running away from the monster for the rest of her life popped up. As she reached the reception, she ran into a hard body. “LEON!”

“No time,” Leon said as he grabbed Aurora’s hand. The monster was right on their heels as Leon ran around the lobby desk and back up the stairs. He went to the right, and ran through the waiting room and back into the locked off hallway.

“What are you doing,” Aurora breathed. Leon didn’t answer as he took out the missing handle shoved it in its place and pushed forward. Aurora’s eyes widen as the shutters started to ascend. “Where’s Claire? Do you know where she is?”

“She’ll met us in the chiefs office, I know she’s inside already”

Just as the shutters were halfway up, the thunderous footsteps appeared in the hall and roared towards them. Abandoning the crank, Leon grabbed aurora and they ducked under the shutters. They found themselves right upside the chiefs office and rushed inside. They rushed through the door to the chiefs private collection and slowly backed until they were three doors away.

“Thank god you two are safe,” Claire sighed in relief as she hugged the two of them

“Did you put the part in”

“Not yet,” Claire shook her head, “I got here only a couple of minutes after you two”

“Well, now that we’re relatively safe, let’s call someone and get the hell out of here”

Nodding Claire placed the electronic piece inside the electronic box and the cell door clicked open. Just as she stepped inside the phone rang. The three looked at each other confused. Who was that was calling the chiefs personal number and why? Claire walked over to the phone and hesitantly picked it up.

“Hello..?”

“ **Good to see you again Claire,” the familiar voice of the police chief Irons sounded from the other end of the phone, “we’ve got unfinished business”**

**“What the hell do you want,” Claire said angrily, “where’s Sherry”**

**“That’s none of your fucking business,” the Irons said. “You have something I need. A necklace that was dropped in the parking garage. Bring it to me at the orphanage”**

**“Where is that?”**

**“In the neighborhood, you’ll find it”**

**“Is sherry alright”**

**“...for now”**

**“I swear you bastard if you hurt her”**

**“Come alone. If you bring those other two along, I’ll kill her”**

With this parting words, the police chief hug up. Hanging up the phone, Claire swore as she turned to the other two, running a hand through her hair in stress. Leon and Aurora could only guess who Claire was speaking to on the other side. The only person who took Sherry was the police chief.

“What did he want?”

“He wants this necklace,” Claire said as she took out the necklace Sherry dropped. Aurora eyed the necklace wearily. “He’s holed up somewhere in an orphanage and keeping Sherry there”

“Alright, so let’s go get her then,” Leon said

“No, he told me to come alone”

“You don’t honestly think we’re going to let you do that,” Aurora raised an eyebrow, “not in this situation”

“We have no choice. He threatened to kill Sherry if anyone else comes along”

“But-“

“It’s okay,” Claire interrupted Leon’s protests, “I’ll be fine,” she declared in confidence. Leon looked at Claire and nodded. He knew she could handle herself. He knew that she would be fine on her own. But there was so many unknowns with he monster roaming around, and police chief Irons kidnapping little girls and hunting down his own officers, He just wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t die.

“Okay, just let me know that you’re okay,” Leon said

“Will do,” Claire smiled

“Well now that that’s settled, let‘s call someone for help and get this keycard”

Picking up the phone, Aurora tried calling her mothers number. It was the only number she knew by heart. Unfortunately, nothing went through. Sucking her teeth, Aurora hung up the phone.

“No dice. I guess it only works within the city and nothing outside of the city like Marvin said”

“Guess we’re going to have to get out of here on our own then,” Leon shrugged.

With a plan in motion, the trio made their way out of irons private collections room and back into the office. As they made it towards the door leading outside, the monster appeared. His eyes landed on the three and walked forward. The trio wasted no time in running. They heard the thunderous footsteps become quicker as they rushed through the door and into the elevator hallway. Aurora pressed the button, Leon and Claire training their guns as the monster appeared. Aurora rushed into the elevator, Claire and Leon backing up behind her as they shot their weapons.

Much to their horror, the monster started to run. Aurora screamed as she repeatedly pressed the down button, hoping for the elevator to hurry up before it reached them. The elevator shook as the monster ran into it. Their eyes widened as it’s hands ripped through the slit of the elevator cage and ripped it open. Claire and Leon started to shoot as the monster placed on foot inside the elevator and grapped Aurora by her shirt.

Aurora screamed again the monster pulled her forward. Claire grabbed her, grunting as she used all her strength to keep auror in the elevator. She was being lurched forward, and Leon’s eyes widened. Taking out his shotgun, Leon blasted the creature you’re times directly in the face as the weight made the elevator lurch. Cursing, as he didn’t have time to reload, Leon grabbed his knife and stabbed the tyrant directly in the eye. the monster backed up, releasing its hold on aurora and the elevator as it’s body lurched out. Aurora and Claire felt back and Without the monster holding the elevator up, it started to descend.

“Fuck!” Aurora shouted as she slid down the wall of the elevator and onto the floor. “This shit can’t be real. There’s just no way. To much is happening right now,”

“Aurora” Leon called softly as he looked down at the panicked woman who was talking to herself. Tears streaked down her face as she banged her head back against the well

“I don’t know how much more I can take,” she cried “is this ever going to end, are we even going to survive.”

“Aurora,” Leon said softly again as he crouched down to her level, “hey it’s okay,”

“No it’s not! Nothing about this is okay! We have this giant ass monster chasing after us Leon.” She flailed her arms around

“I know, but-“

“There’s nothing we can do to kill it. Bullets don’t faze it, Fire doesn’t faze it. What chance do we have of survival with something like that on us.” Her voice cracked, “what if we leave and it chases after us. What then leon?” Aurora cried as she clutched the side of her head. “we’re all going to die”

“No don’t speak like that,” Leon said. Gently he pried her hands off her head and grabbed her face and leaned his forehead against hers, “you will survive,” he declared, “no matter what I have to do or what it takes, I’ll protect you okay I promise. As long as we’re together we’ll survive”

“You don’t know that”

“We made it this far together right”

“Yeah,” Aurora sniffed as she leaned into Leon.

“Then we’ll be okay”

They stayed like that until opening of the elevator doors interrupted their moment. Wiping away a the stray tears from Aurora’s face Leon stood up. Reaching a hand down, he helped Aurora up. “Thank you for that”

“You’re welcome,” Leon smiled, “now let’s go”

The trio made their way through the elevator passage and froze at the state of the garage, lickers and zombie dogs were everywhere. It didn’t look like they got along as the lickers seemed to be attacking the dogs and eating the corpses. Quietly they backed away from the scene.

“You two stay here, I’ll get the parking pass,” Leon ordered

“Well if you’re volunteering,” Claire joked.

Leon winked and took a deep breath. As he reached the door, he placed his foot back before running out of the room. The screeching of the lockers and the barking to the dogs echoed through the garage as they noticed and chased after Leon. Aurora could only hope he was fast and sky enough to make it pass them all.

In the elevator control room, Claire and Aurora waited for Leon. As Aurora fixed her hair to the best of her abilities, Claire watched her. It was unexpected of the woman to have a breakdown just as they were on their way out, but no unwarranted. They’ve been through so much already and had to accommodate for things that should have been simple. Claire could understand why anyone would breakdown the way they did.

“Are you okay?” Claire asked softly

“Yeah,” Aurora sighed, “sorry  about that”

“Theres no need to be sorry, I get it”

“It’s just, everything was starting to get to me. The zombies, the monsters, the corrupt police chief. We’re so close to being out, and seeing that thing just,” Aurora shivered

“I understand,” Claire said, “I’m waiting for this all to crash down on me too”

“That makes me want to ask, are you okay Claire?”

“As okay as I can be. It’s funny, I came here looking for my brother and ended up looking for a little girl instead”

“Speaking of that, what are you going to do now?”

“Keep searching,” Claire declared. “In the note i found it said he was in Europe. I don’t know where in Europe, but it’s something at least.”

“Do you think Chris is in some sort of trouble?”

“Maybe,” Claire shrugged, “all the officers that I could ask are dead, so I’m at a legit dead end with this. I have no idea where to look next. All I know is that there’s something weird going on and that my brother knows it”

A loud crashing sound from the garage made the two girls jump. Looking at one another, they rushed out into the garage. The lickers and dogs were gone as if the loud sound spooked them. Aurora gasped at the sight in front of her.

The Tyrant busted through the concrete wall and held Leon up by the neck. The officer struggled, his legs kicking out as the monster stared at him with emotionless eyes. Aurora and Claire took out their weapons and started shooting.

“It’s not letting go, what do we do!”

“I don’t know!”

Suddenly, an engine roared and car lights flashed on them. They all turned their heads to the giant S.W.A.T. car that sped towards them, tires squealing against the pavement. Claire and Aurora jumped out of the way as the truck drove straight into the monster, slamming it into a wall as it dropped Leon from its grip. Aurora ran over to Leon who was coughing and gasping for air. She sat him up to help him breathe and watched as an unfamiliar woman climbed out of the driver’s side of the truck. She looked unscathed despite the crash.

“Ada!” Leon called.

The woman frowned then began to walk away. “This is getting old...Saving your ass- that’s twice,” she pointed at him. Aurora helped Leon to his feet, his eyes never leaving the woman.

“I didn’t realize you were keeping score,” Leon retorted.

Ada spun angrily to face him. “Look, this isn’t a game!”

“Who said it was,” Aurora glared as the woman turned to face her. 

The sound of metal scraping from the truck stopped them, the four taking out their guns in preparation. “You gotta be kidding me,” “Leon hissed.

“Nothing dies down here,” Ada groaned while taking out something from her pocket. The truck was just beginning to be pushed forward when it suddenly burst into flames. The couple looked over at Ada as she closed a device in her hand before putting it away.

“I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of that thing,” Claire said as she put her gun away.

The woman sighed and looked over at the trio. “I take it you guys have the key card?”

“Yeah, and this,” the officer replied while taking out Ben’s recorder. He tossed it over to her which she caught easily. “I was hoping you could explain what’s on it.” She looked at it then at him with a small shrug.

“Maybe," she paused. "After I hear it. Let’s get out of here,” she said while heading towards the exit.

“Leon,” Aurora called, “who the hell is that?”

“I’ll tell you later,” he said as he followed after the woman. Claire and Aurora looked at one another and followed after Leon. putting thekey card into the machine, it beeped as it accepted the card and the shutter began to slowly rise up. The group waited till it rose high enough to crouch under then walked out into the deserted city street.

The city's lights were still on, but it was void of any life. Aurora sighed as the cool breeze washed over them. The air felt different knowing they weren’t trapped inside an infested police station anymore.

“So leon, mind telling us who that woman is,” Aurora said as Ada took a listen to the recorder while making a right at the top of the driveway. 

“I don’t know much, just that her name is Ada and she’s FBI?”

“FBI,” Aurora raised an eyebrow as she looked the woman up and down. “yeah, she’s wearing hells, I don’t think so”

“That’s what she said, there’s no reason to not believe her”

“Other than the fact that the FBI sent one lone agent into this type of situation?” Claire spoke up

“We don’t know if she was doing this before this all happened. Just, let’s not jump to any conclusions okay, she saved me twice, I think she’s good”

Claire and Aurora looked at one another and shrugged, “if you say so leon.” There wasn’t much the two of them could say. They didn’t know the woman and she has saved Leon. She may be suspicious, but it’s clear she wasn’t out to kill them or hurt them.

As they continued on, one side of the street was blocked off by a large blockade of vehicles and trash. The lonely road was dotted with abandoned cars that reflected the streetlights on its metal hoods. The rain lightened up a little bit and there didn’t seem to be any zombies or monsters wandering around.

Once Ada was done listening, she sighed and set the recorder in her pocket.

“Is that the intel you needed?” Leon asked.

“Unfortunately, no. Ben, didn’t come through.”

“Well, what exactly are you looking for?”

“More info on the people responsible for this mess.”

“And who would that be?” Claire asked curiously.

“I’m afraid I can’t say. Not yet at least.” She looked ahead then began briskly walking towards the end of the street. The road was cut off, leaving only an exposed construction site of pipes and a deep gorge in its wake. Aurora’s eyes widened at the destruction. It was one thing for cars and fires, but a whole road being blown up meant that there was more going on in the city. She thought back to the monster, and wondered if they were lurking around the city killing people.

“Road’s out...Going through that gun shop looks like the only way,” she pointed out as she walked towards it.

“Hey” Claire called to Aurora and Leon, “I think this is where we part ways”

“You be careful alright,” Leon said, “once you get Sherry, you radio me. If you find yourself in trouble, radio me. If you need any type of help”

“Radio you, I get it Leon,” Claire smiled. “I’ll be fine, you two on the other hand?”

“We’ll be okay,” Aurora smiled, “Leon said he’ll protect me, so I trust that he will”

“I have no doubt. You two be safe, I want to meet again under better circumstances”

“Definitely,” Leon smiled.

Turning in her heel, Claire left the two for the orphanage. Leon and Aurora didn’t know what would happen next, but they weren’t going to leave one another. Taking Aurora’s hand, Leon led her through the gunshop Ada just entered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ada stans are the actual worst. Legit, I call her pointless to one game and all the Ada stans act like i physically, emotionally, and mentally attacked them personally. You wouldn’t believe how many people had to convince themselves that their opinion of Ada was valid, and that anyone who has a different one is absolutely wrong. It was weird as hell to say the least because I did not expect that.


	12. Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora did not escape the station for this

The gun shop was littered with garbage and knocked over shelves. It looked like the city ransacked the place when the outbreak happened, not that they could blame them. With zombies and lickers, and dogs running around, having a gun was a no brained tool for survival.

“Of course the gun shop is looted,” Aurora said as she and Leon looked through the racks for anything useful. Leon found a long barrel for his shotgun as well as handgun ammo, while aurora settled for the grenade settled on the shelf. Walking back to Leon, she watched as he upgraded his shotgun.

“I meant to ask earlier, but what was that guy Ben investigating?”

“Umbrella, he said something about G and the orphanage.”

“Wow,” Aurora blinked as she thought back to Irons emails, “there really is a whole ass conspiracy theory going on in this city concerning umbrella”

“He also said something about a tyrant, that umbrella created it and ordered it to wipe out any survivors in the city”

Aurora’s eyes widened. “So someone purposely created that thing and sent it to kill us.. what the actual hell”

As Leon finished upgrading his shotgun, he added four extra bullets and cocked the gun, holding it up to test if the barrel was in correctly. Once done, they both began walking towards the back area that led outside when a shotgun was suddenly pressed against Leon's shoulder.

“Don’t move,” a man in a yellow plaid shirt warned him. His face was scratched up and his hands looked like they had been badly singed. Aurora raised her gun immediately at the man, glaring as the man pointed the shotgun at aurora.

“Aurora, put the gun down,” Leon said softly as he held his hands up

“I will if he puts his down”

“Aurora,” Leon said sternly as he glared at her. Rolling her eyes, Aurora out her gun down and held her hands up the same as Leon. “We're not going to hurt you-."

“I said DON’T MOVE!”

“We’re just passing through. I’m going to ask you to lower that weapon.”

“Like hell you are! You’re going to turn around, and go right back out the way you came in.”

“Or, we can go through the store and be on our way since you don’t want us in your store and we don’t want to be here”

Leon glanced over the man's shoulder and was surprised to see a little girl standing in a doorway to the back part of the shop. Her hair was a mess, her breathing was wheezy and there was blood around the collar of her blue and white striped shirt.

“I think your daughter needs help, sir.” The man cocked his gun and pressed closer. Aurora looked over the man and seen the little girl, her gasp echoing through the shop. The man glanced at her then at Leon, slightly backing away.

“Don’t tell me how to deal with my daughter.”

“Drop it!” Ada demanded, suddenly walking into view with her handgun aimed at the man. When he went to aim his gun her way, Leon took out his. Giving Leon a look, Aurora rolled her eyes but kept her hands up. As the man waved wave his gun between the three of them, his daughter began walking towards them with a small limp.

Seeing her coming forward, Ada switched her aim over to the young girl and began to walk toward her. The man jumped in front of her waving his hand to stop her.

“No! Wait!”

“Step aside. We need to terminate her before she turns,” she told him coldly.

“‘Terminate’? That’s my fucking daughter!” Looking at the kid, the trio could see one of her eyes was white, but the other remained brown. She hadn’t fully turned yet. Leon and Aurora looked a beach other, the woman shrugging before Leon lowered his weapon. He turned to Ada and waved his hand for her to do the same.

“Ada...Just let them be.” She looked at him with a neutral expression before lowering her gun. The man kept his gun raised and his eyes on them.

“Emma, sweetheart, I told you to stay put,” he called out to behind him. She wheezed loudly before taking another step.

“Da...ddy?” she spoke, voice barely a whisper. He turned and walked over to her, kneeling down beside her.

“Yeah, Emmie. Daddy’s here. I’m here, ok?” he tried reassuring her as he pulled her into a one-sided hug. The girl’s arms were lifeless at her sides. Leon took a step forward, his expression softening. “Those fuckin’ things outside...Look what they did to us,” the stranger sniffled before turning his head to look up at Leon. “You’re a cop. You’re supposed to know something-how did this happen!? HUH!?”

The only one who could have any possible answer was Ada. The other two looked at her but she said nothing. “She was our sweet little angel.”

“Mo-mmy?” Emma wheezed. Her father turned the girl to face him with tears running down his face. 

“Mommy’s sleeping, honey, ok? And I’m gonna put you to bed too, ok?... Emma.” It was enough for Aurora’s eyes to sting with the threat of tears, but not enough to make her cry. It was one thing to kill nameless police officers, but family. Aurora thought back to her own mother and siblings. Whether they’re out in the streets in the same predicament with having to kill a brother or a sister or a mother. Or if they’ve all turned themselves and someone managed to put them out of their misery. She thought about the person who could have killed her zombified family, and whether that person lacked remorse the same way Aurora did in the police station as it was the only way to survive.

He stood back up and began to lift her up into his arms as she groaned in pain. Everyone else took a few steps forward watching as he carried her back to the open door where she came from. Then he turned to them visibly upset. “Just go...Just give us some privacy,” was the last thing he said before slamming the door closed. They all stood there in the rain for a moment watching the door intently.

“You know, it’s one thing to keep the truth from us!” Leon exclaimed while turning to Ada. “But why him?” He questioned as he gestured to the door. Just after he said this, there was the sound of a gun cocking and a single gunshot coming from where the man disappeared. They all looked back at the door in realization as to what happened. Leon turned back to Ada in anger. “I want to find out what’s happening here. And stop whoever’s behind it. Helping people like them,” he pointed back at the door, “that’s why I joined the force.”

“Leon,” Aurora said frowning. This wasn’t what they left the station for. They left the station to get out of the city. There was nothing they could do. Nothing to save. those that they’ve killed were dead, and there was nothing they could do to help those that turned.

Ada walked forward and stood in front of Leon. “My mission is to take down Umbrella’s entire operation. We may not make it out,” she told him.

“Whatever it takes to save this city...count me in,” he replied without hesitation.

“Don’t be stupid,” Aurora exclaimed. “You’re not going to save this city, this city is pass the point of being saved. Taking down umbrella isn’t going to do it, and neither is following her,” she pointed to Ada

“You don’t have to come,” Ada stated, “you can go on your way by yourself if that’s how you feel”

“And what? Be by myself and then get swarmed by those things still roaming around.Or be killed by that tyrant whose purpose is to kill me. This whole thing is stupid. Umbrella doesn’t exist just in raccoon city, they’re all over the place. Being here now won’t stop anything. It’s a waste of time”

“Letting whoever is responsible for this outbreak isn’t a waste of time!” Leon stated as he stared Aurora down, “Maybe I won’t be saving this city, but I will bring it to justice, and it starts with those responsible. Everything starts with stopping the ones here and now”

Aurora stared at Leon and then back at the empty streets. She wasn’t sure if she could make it out of the city without him by her side.

“Look,” Leon sighed as he stood in front of Aurora, “I know the plan was to escape the city, but I need to do this.”

“Why”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. Everything that chief Irons did and what happened to Ben. I need to set things right”

“Leon” Aurora whined as tears pricked her eyes. Leaning forward she rested her forehead on Leon’s shoulder, “I can’t do it without you.” The only reason she was able to survive in the first place, was because of him. But staying in the city wasn’t a good idea and she didn’t know how much longer Leon was going to be able to keep her safe. It was a gamble she didn’t want to take.

“I promised you earlier that I would protect you,” Leon said softly as he lightly pushed Aurora way from him, “and I plan to keep that promise,” he wiped away a stray tear Aurora didn’t even notice rolling down her face.

“How are you going to do that if I don’t go with you”

“By making you an different promise to add onto that.” Aurora raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “I, Leon S. Kennedy, promise you, Aurora Harris, that I will get you out of this city safe and sound”

Aurora had to look away as she laughed. He was so cute. “You’re corny,” she lightly pushed him by the hips

Leon chuckled, “so, what do you say”

“Fine,” Aurora sniffed, “I don’t want to be left alone, so I’m stuck with you until I find someone else”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He placed his hands on both of Aurora’s shoulders, his blue eyes staring into her brown ones

“I honestly have no choice,” Aurora shrugged. Smiling, Leon let go and the two turned to Ada. The trio took one last look at the door before turning to a small gate that led out onto a different path into the city. Ada led the way with the pair trailing behind her.

“So, who exactly did you say we’re taking down?” Leon asked while brushing the rain from his eyes.

“Heard of the Umbrella Corporation?” They nodded. “They’re a pharmaceutical company secretly making bioweapons. They have a virus- it turns people into indestructible monsters.” As they reached a courtyard and looked up to see a billboard for Umbrella. It pictured the company as happy and picturesque as if contradicting what Ada said

“That explains the horrible things we’ve seen,” Leon replied.

“Like the tyrant and the lickers and that thing you fought down in the basement. But that doesn’t make any sense because most of what we’ve seen are brainless, what’s the point if they can kill the military that bought them?”

At the edge of the courtyard, they used the construction walkways leading into the gorge towards their destination. “And that’s why I’m looking for Annette Birkin. She’s the one at Umbrella responsible for unleashing the virus. I’m going to bring her down." They jumped down from a high landing to another walkway that ended at a large sewer entrance. “This is how we get to Annette.”

“Just like Ben said,” Leon said as he peered into the hole. It was dimly lit and the floor had been covered with sewage and broken piping.

“After you,” the agent gestured.

“Gee, thanks,” he replied sarcastically as he walked in first. Aurora followed behind him while Ada stayed in the back. They had walked down a good distance till they reached a fork in the road, with one way being blocked by its destructed pathway.

“Can’t imagine a real scientist being down here."

“According to HQ...this leads right into Umbrella’s secret facility,” Ada explained as they turned down the path to the right.

“Come on. Sewers are run by the city,” he retorted in disbelief. “How could they have a facility...without the authorities knowing?”

“You know nothing about how corporations work.”

“Umbrella’s controlled Raccoon City for years.”

They continued down the sewer drain, lights growing dimmer with each passing minute. They turned left at a corner and was about to reach another entryway when suddenly, there was a loud rumbling from somewhere on the surface above. It shook the room around them, dust crumbling down from the ceiling eerily.

“Jesus… That an earthquake?” the Leon questioned worriedly as the shaking stopped

"I sure as hell hope so,” Ada replied.

“What do you mean by that?” Aurora said nervously.

Ada didn’t answer as they turned down a dark corridor. Aurora took out her flashlight as it was hard see inside, the on,y other light source being the light that glowed through the iron gate at the other end. As they drew near it, something large suddenly moved with thundering footsteps and a loud roar. The group froze as they watched whatever it was disappear on the other side of the gate.

Leon turned to Ada with a look of disbelief, “What the hell!?”

“Stay sharp! God only knows what’s down here.”

Aurora and Leon looked at each other in disbelief but continued walking nonetheless. Going through another room, they carefully walked out into the other side of the gate, finding it empty, but seriously damaged on the other end.

“Where did it go?” Aurora inquired as they passed the hole and moved forward to descend a staircase. 

“Hopefully far away from here,” the Ada sighed. The stairs led them to a concrete hallway full of construction. Halfway through another rumbling occurred, this time it sounded like an explosion went off somewhere on the surface.

“Again!?”

“It’s not too late to turn back, you know.”

“No chance. You’re stuck with us to the end,” Leon affirmed much to Aurora’s dismay. Going through an entryway, they crossed along a metal catwalk, but unfortunately, it dropped off down into sewage-filled waters. Piles of garbage lined the walls and the water ran a putrid dark greyish green. The air smelled of mold, rotten garbage, and shit.

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Leon inquired

“Unfortunately”

Leon decided he would go first. He crouched down and jumped over the edge. The water only reached his thighs, but that didn’t stop it from splashing in his face.

“Ugh!” wiping his face he looked up at the women. They peered over the edge at him with similar disgusted faces. “Whose next?”

“I’ll go, but only if you catch me,” Aurora declared

“I’m pretty sure we’ve been through worse than sewer water,”

“I would rather be stuck in that police station than drop down in shit water”

“Fine,” Leon smirked, “I’ll catch you”

“You better”

Aurora crouched down, intending to go next, but was stopped by a loud booming coming from somewhere in the sewer line. Leon held up his hand at them. “Wait there.” With each loud thud, the room and the water shook. He warily walked towards the source of the noise, when suddenly, out of the wall came a ginormous alligator snapping its giant jaws hungrily against the walls. It was almost as big as the tunnel they were in and it was angry. The moment it saw Leon, it began to charge at him.

Jesus Christ!”

“LEON! RUN!”

“GET OUT OF THERE!”

The girls watched in horror as Leon made a run for it, the alligator not too far behind. They could barely make out the “HOLY SHIT!” Leon shouted over the sound of the roaring.

“What are we going to do!” Aurora shouted as the tunnel shook again

“We need to find another way! C’mon!”

Aurora followed Ada back the way they came and through some passageways that they didn’t notice before, all while following the sewer line from where they could see. As they ran, a loud explosion coming from a room not too far ahead caught their attention. As they neared the doorway, they could hear Leon’s voice.

“Chew on that...you overgrown son of a bitch. ”

Running through the door, they looked over the catwalk to see him trying to catch his breath. Floating in the filthy water behind him was a giant chunk of what was left of the alligator. Right above it on the slope was a busted gas pipe.

“Oh thank God,” Aurora breathed a sigh of relief

“Leon, up here!” Ada called, catching his attention. At the end of the catwalk, she let down a ladder for him to climb.

“What the hell was-?”

“Just get up here!”

As soon as he made it to the top Aurora threw her arms around his neck. Before Leon could hug her back, Aurora pushed him away, her nose crinkling at the strong stench of sewers coming off of him.

“Eww, you stink.” Leon laughed as Aurora turned to Ada with a glare. “What the hell was that?”

“Can’t say I didn’t warn you,” Ada said with a nod to Leon as they crossed the threshold into the hallway.

“You said the virus turned people into monsters, not reptiles.” Leon exclaimed agitated

“Fair point. I’m just impressed you made it in one piece.” Leon didn’t respond as they turned down another hallway full of construction tools. At the end of it was an elevator. Ada looked at it curiously then walked in, the other two following suit. With a push of a button, the doors closed and the car began to slowly descend.

“So let me get this straight: Umbrella sells monsters like that to who? Our military? Somebody else’s?”

“They don’t sell the monsters, they sell the viruses that make them. And Annette is who makes the viruses.” Ada looked up at Leon, her expression entirely serious. “Scary as that alligator was...Annette is far more dangerous.”

With that said, the elevator stopped and opened its gate. Leon carefully walked out first into a room full of pipes and electric machines. They passed through it and then another room until they reached a metal door. As they grew closer, they could hear a lady’s voice talking on the other side. Leon peeked it open to find a blonde woman crouching over a dead body who was writing something in a small handbook.

“Definitely William’s handiwork,” they could hear her mutter to herself. Opening the door for the girls behind him, he walked forward and raised his gun at the stranger.

Identify yourself!” The lady looked up at him annoyed, but ignored his orders. She was wearing a white lab coat over a red blouse and white pants and her hair was lying over her shoulder in a braid. Ada walked in with her gun out, Aurora following behind her.

“Annette Birkin.”

“She’s who we’re looking for?” Leon asked as he looked at Ada in surprise

“Not much time,” the scientist muttered as she stood back up, her gaze still on the zombie. “Need to dispose of it.”

Ada stalked forward, the other two watching cluelessly. “We’re here for the G-Virus!”

At Ada’s statement, Annette finally looked up at the three, he gaze lingering on Aurora a little too long as recognition flashed in her eyes. Looking away from Aurora and back at Ada, Annette scoffed. “That’s not going to happen.”

“I’m warning you, doctor!”

“Oh yeah?” Without tearing her gaze away, Annette pulled out a lighter and tossed it onto the dead body on the floor. The corpse immediately ignited into flames as she made a run for it.

“Hey!” the young man tried to say, but Ada beat him to it and began to run after Annette.

“STOP!” The scientist turned a corner and as soon as Ada was in eyesight of it, gunshots went off stopping her in her tracks. 

“ADA!” Leon ran at the agent and tackled her down to the other side of the hallway. He grunted in pain as he hit the ground, blood beginning to pool on the concrete. He was hit!

“LEON!”


	13. The Sewers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora tends to Leon and the two find themselves in the sewers looking for Ada.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are now at the most difficult section to write. Seriously, I overthought the sewers so many times becsuse I did not know how to incorporate both Leon and Claire into it. I’m still seeing if I can change what I came up with, but only because the sewers is such a straightforward path that having them both do it seemed stupid but I needed a certain thing to happen.

Aurora ran over to them, blood running cold at the sight of Leon on the ground shot. Kneeling at his sides he watched the crimson spill from his shoulder. Grabbing the first side bag she had, she started going through it. She needed to stop Leon’s bleeding and fast. Everything in the background was nothing but white noise as she found what she was looking for.

“Forget about me...Just go...Stop her before she gets away”

“Shut up and save your energy” Aurora said as she applied pressure to his wound. She didn’t notice the worried look on Ada’s face, nor did she notice when Ada left. All Aurora could focus on, is Leon. She needed to get his shirt off to properly treat the wound. Carefully Aurora got the vest off first, and then the shirt, Leon groaning in pain as she had to move him. Once off Aurora took a deep breath. First thing you learn about tending to a bullet wound is to never take the bullet out of the wound as it may prove fatal. For now, stopping the bleeding was the most important thing to do.

“How do you you know-how to do this,” Leon panted

“My mother. She was so devoted to teaching her kids to survive without her. She taught me how to treat any type of injury if i wasn’t close to a hospital. Life is unpredictable, and she wanted us all to be ready for it”

“Smart woman”

“She is.” Taking the first aid spray, Aurora sprayed the hole with it, Leon wincing at the sting. “Why did you take a bullet for Ada? You say you want to take the people who caused this down, but you almost get yourself killed trying to protect someone who wouldn’t do the same for you.. either you’re thinking with your dick, or you’re an idiot”

“Neither scenerio makes me sound good,” Leon joked, then groaned as Aurora applied more pressure to the wound. “I trust her”

“Why?”

“Because I have no reason not to”

Aurora rolled her eyes at that answer. It was true that she didn’t have anything definite to prove that Ada was untrustworthy, it was only a suspicion based on her style of dress and the admission of wanting a sample of the virus. Neither of those things point to Ada being a bad guy, but it did raise certain questions in Aurora’s head.

After a minute of silence Aurora checked Leon to see him knocked out. Eyes widening, she checked his pulse, it was a bit slow, but still kicking. Sighing in relief, she added another gauze pad. The bleeding was starting to slow a bit. Pressing harder, Aurora watched Leon’s face. It took about 10 minutes for the bleeding to stop but the wound was still exposed. Spraying the rest of the first side spray on said wound, Aurora grabbed the medical gauge. Sitting him up for a better position, Aurora wrapped up his shoulder.. they would need to find a hospital right away to actually treat it, but for now he will survive.

Sighing, Aurora wiped her bloody hands with the medical wipes and sat back against the concrete wall thinking about her situation. They’ve been through so much Aurora honestly couldn’t tell if it was still the same day or the next. She wondered about Claire, and whether or not she was able to save Sherry. She wondered about her father and if he knows about raccoon city. She thought about their next steps now that Ada was gone. And she thought about how Leon would continue with an injured shoulder.

Looking over at the blonde, Aurora checked his pulse. It was starting to steady and his skin was starting to gain its color back. Looking over him, Aurora couldn’t help but admit how cute he was. She knew he was attractive when they first met, but she’s never noticed just how attractive he was. Brushing the hair out of his face, Leon stirred.

“Ada,” he groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He looked from side to side and leaned forward, wincing and grabbing his wrapped shoulder.

“Easy,” Aurora said softly, “I just bandaged that”

“Thank you”

“Don’t forget that you promised to protect and get me out of here,”

Leon laughed, but winced in pain. “How long was I out for?”

“Like half an hour or so”

“We have to find Ada,” Leon declared as he struggled to stand. Aurora rolled her eyes and helped him.

“Calm down, hows your shoulder? Can you draw your gun?”

Leon rolled his shoulder but winced in pain. He quick drew his gun and winced in pain again. Aurora sighed and grabbed the pain killers from the first aid and gave them to Leon who swallowed them dry. “Thanks”

“Welp,” Aurora sighed, “I guess it’s my turn to take the lead. Thankfully nothing attacked while you were knocked out”

“I’m glad to have you protecting me”

“I’m not, I probably jinxed it,” Aurora muttered as she lead Leon the way Ada went. The ventilation fan was broken, creating a way forward, but the ladder leading up to it was broken, halting their way up. “And we have to find another way around”

Leon noticed a small lift sitting across the room. Calling her over, they both got on and with a push of a button, it lifted them up a floor to an entryway that led to a large room. 

“Dammit. Where did you go?” Leon whispered to himself.

“Why are you so worried about the FBI agent that was sent here deliberately? She can take care of herself. What you should be worried about is Claire. Or me. Or yourself ”

They could hear the sound of rushing water as they entered and found there to be a large sewer opening down below them. Descending down a flight of concrete stairs, they reached an opening that led down into nasty green waters. The pair looked at each other then back down. “Fucking, fuck”

“It’s best if you just not think about it, and get it over with,” Leon advised.

“But what about your shoulder. Getting it wet will guarantee the you’ll get infected”

“I’ll be fine,” Leon assured her

“Ew, eww, ewww’ Aurora chanted as she and Leon both crouched down at the top of the landing and stepped off of the edge and splashing into the waists deep sewer waters. Aurora’s eyes widened in horror as some of the sewer water splashed in her face. She held in a squeal, not wanting to attract anything that may or may not be lurking about.

“That’s a pleasant smell.” Leon joked as the trekked along. They continued down through a dark tunnel that entered into a wide waterway. On one end, there was a small concrete landing that they could climb onto and on it was an iron gate that was locked down. At its base was a mechanism that required a handle or crank to turn it.

On the other end of the waterway was a fork in the road. “Right is always right they say,” Aurora shrugged as she lead them towards the right where a concrete landing lead to a small set of stairs. There were two bodies slumped against the walls, blood splattered everywhere. They looked like they were part of some sort of militant group by the looks of their uniforms and gas-masked faces. Leon carefully kicked at one of the bodies found it dead. Moving on to the other Leon noticed something on the ground next to one of the bodies; a VHS tape. 

As Leon was examining the body another zombie in a jumpsuit staggered down more stairs towards him. Getting in front of him, Aurora cocked her gun and killed the zombie quickly.

“Hey, just because I’m protecting you doesn’t mean you have to be careless”

“Sorry Sorry” Leon said raising his hand in defense, “but I found something interesting,” he held up a vhs tape

“That’s weird,” Aurora raised an eyebrow, “but it can be evidence to help you take down umbrella”

“You think?”

“Depends on what’s on it”

They continued up some more stairs, passing by another body, up to a walkway that looked over the waters they were just in. Moving forward, they were caught off guard by a body sliding down from a pipe near the ceiling and hitting the floor in front of them with a loud slam.

Taking out her knife, Aurora stabbed the body in the head. The zombie thrashed around on the ground, shrieking loudly until it fully died. They passed by a locked door labeled ‘Treatment Facility’ and went up towards the other side of the walkway. Slumped against the wall was a dead body. Aurora repeated her earlier action, killing the zombie and assuring that it won’t pop up on them if they ever came back.

Moving forward they came across another locked door. Aurora sucked her teeth and let out a small sigh as she turned and seen Leon examining something on the wall near the dead zombie was slouched against. Raising an eyebrow she made her way towards him.

“It’s a rook piece,” Leon stated as he pulled it from the box. They watched as the walkway towards one of the labeled doors began rising, so he put it back to lower it into its original position. 

“That’s an interesting mechanic”

Down the hall on the walkway was a zombie that was wandering around. It didn’t seem to notice them despite raising the platform, so Aurora motioned for the shotgun. Leon handed her the weapon and watched as she snuck up on it, placing the barrel against the zombies head and blowing it off. The kick back made Aurora stumble, but she got her footing.

“I did that on purpose”

Leon laughed as he grabbed the shotgun from Aurora and placed it back on his back as the two checked the door at the end of the walkway to find it locked as well. Moving forward they took a right at the door that led to a long staircase down. At the bottom was a knife on a barrel and another waterway, but this one dropped off into another. Sighing, they slid back into the water and walked over to the edge. Peering over, they noticed it was a sloped edge that they could slide down on.

“I really hate you right now Leon” Aurora said

“I kind of hate myself right now too”

They both started sliding down with the running water. Aurora squealed as they dropped down with a splash, the water splashing her in the face and getting on her lips. They quickly bobbed out of the water, their upper bodies now soaked.

“Argh! Shit!” Leon sputtered while wiping his face.

Aurora clenched her mouth tight, and hastily wiped her lips off with the driest part of her sweater. “Not only am I burning these clothes once we leave, but I’m going to spend an entire day disinfecting and cleaning every single part of my body”

Finally looking up at their surroundings. There were large garbage mounds mixed with probably human excrements spewing out of giant sewer holes on the sides of the walls. It was dimly lit and the smell was even worse. Aurora was starting to get a little aggravated.

There was another one of those locked gates on a concrete landing and a blue herb sitting in the corner. Continuing forward they followed the clear path in the water to another fork in the road. The left was blocked off by a gate while the other looked clear. As they drew nearer that way, swam across the murky water’s surface towards where they needed to go. Aurora and Leonfroze in place as they watched it bob around the water, intercepting their way forward.

“What the fuck is that?!” Aurora hissed quietly as she shined the flashlight at the thing. Whatever it was seemed to pulse as it rested in place.

“I don’t know. Should I shoot it?”

“Go for it”

Leon held up his gun with a small wince and shot a single bullet at the mass blocking their way. It popped out of the water with a shrill scream and looked around for the cause of its distress. The pair stared in horror at it, a monster of grotesque proportions. On one side of it was a hulking mass with a large arm and leg connected to it. The other side was smaller with a human-sized arm and leg, but its head was something they had never seen before. Once it got sight of them, the head stretched out into a long snake-like thing.

Eyes widening, Aurora shot the creature with a flame round as Leon continued to shoot it with his gun. It swung its tentacle, the two backing away but not taking their eyes off of the creature. It roared and opened its head like a sick looking flower and began spitting something into the water. Grabbing a grenade, Aurora quickly threw it, exploding the creature and whatever it was that was spit into the water. Taking out his shotgun, Leon shot three more bullets into it before it fell down into the water dead.

“So now we have another monster to watch out for down here,” Aurora said as she and Leon reloaded.

“Makes me wonder just what umbrella was doing in those labs”

“So you picked up on it too? The fact that it didn’t look like a mutated animal, and seemed created like the lickers”

“Yeah,” Leon nodded. Wincing he grabbed his shoulder in pain

“If you don’t die from one of these creatures, you’re for sure going to die from an infection”

Making their way out of the water they carefully walked through the dark hallway to a small set of stairs that led to a metal door. Passing through it, they were surprised at the sight of a cable car sitting against a steep slope that led down into a long tunnel. The wires connecting to it sparked every now and again which meant there was still electricity working.

“A cable car...Interesting,” Leon muttered. 

“That’s probably how you get to the rumored underground facility. We should find a way to get it to work”

“We need to find Ada first,” Leon reminded. Aurora rolled her eyes but said nothing

They ascended up a long metal staircase then climbed a ladder up to a control room. Carefully walking in, they found it empty, Aurora noting that they were in the control room. On the opposite side of the room was a glass wall that peered over into a giant well-lit room. There was a long catwalk that stood high above a pool of sewer water and there was a giant metal claw that had crashed through one of the walls.

Looking through the room Aurora found some shotgun shells on a chair. Turning to Leon she found him by the door were a desk with a dead computer and some papers on it sat. He was looking down at something with a frown on his face. Making her way over, Aurora peered down at the note in his hand.

**Director Owens,**

**There are alarms going off all over NEST. I don't know what's going on, but I can hear gunfire and I can't reach my section chief. We're trapped. Please send help ASAP.**

**Director Owens,**

**The situation here is dire. NEST has been contaminated with the virus. It's unbelievable. The failsafe system didn't activate at all. Is this the work of outsiders? I can't imagine who else it could be. But why? Mayer and Kim are dead. I can't stop coughing. Why won't you answer me!?**

**Director Owens,**

**You... It was you all a**

“My god,” Aurora gasped, “it must have been terrifying to be in that situation”

Leon placed the notes down and turned around. “Come one, we need to find Ada, wherever she is”

Next to it was a set of lockers, one padlocked that needed a code, and the other opened up to flame rounds. Walking over to Leon, he looked up at her, “we’re going to have to jump down”

“Is it a far jump”

“Not really. You’ll fall onto a landing, and then you’ll have to jump down again”

“Doesn’t sound good bad. I’ll go first since you’re injured”

Looking down, Aurora realized that there was once a lift that brought people up and down. It was broken halfway between the room they were in and the one below them. Aurora jumped down then jumped again into the next room. Looking around she didn’t see any dead bodies lying around, and waved Leon down. With little struggle, he made it down alongside her.

The room they were in was another control room with a wall of windows on the one side and more control panels on the other. As they peered around the room, the sound of muffled groaning coming from the other side of the windows caught their attention. Rounding the corner, they walked up to the glass cautiously.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Leon murmured.

“What is it?” Aurora asked curiously as soon as they peered out into the room. It was a large garbage room with piles of trash lying everywhere. On the other side of it was a large door labeled ‘Waste Disposal’ that looked like the only way inside. He pressed a hand up on the glass and looked around worriedly. “Come on,” he whispered to himself peering down.

“What are you looking for?” Aurora asked as she narrowed her eyes into the window.

“Ada!” Leon exclaimed as Aurora noticed a flash of red amongst the filth and found Ada slumped over unconscious. A particularly loud growl from the other side of the waste disposal door tore their gaze away from the agent. “We have to get to her before ‘it’ does!” Leon stated as he tore away from the window.

The two started looking around the room. They found some handgun ammo as well as a map of the sewers. Against a nearby wall was a giant black box and a desk that had a T.V. and VHS player.

“You still have that tape?”

He pulled it out and handed it to her. She pushed a couple of buttons, turning on the appliances before inserting the tape. The two watched curiously as the screen flickered with static for a moment before working.

**A man face down on the floor groaning in pain. There was an open suitcase in front of him and broken vials of liquid spilled onto the floor. In the corner of the video, it was labeled ‘A. Kirkpatrick’ and was dated on September 23rd, just before the outbreak. The man panned the camera up as the two could hear frantic yelling in the background.**

**“Please...Oh...please...stop...St-Stop!” he begged while reaching for the suitcase. He tried crawling towards the sound of a gun firing and looked up to see one of the soldiers they had seen dead fighting against something. “Don’t...don’t...no...no...no!”**

**A pair of large deformed hands picked up the suitcase in one frame before the static cut in.**

**The image came back with the man looking up at a familiar monster who was pouring the contents of the suitcase onto him and in his mouth.**

**“OVER HERE, YOU FREAK!” the other man who was still standing screamed while shooting at it some more.**

**“Don’t hurt him...Don’t hurt him,” the injured man begged as he watched the monster stalk towards the other. The image was getting blurrier by the second. All it took was one swipe of the thing to slam the soldier against the wall, splattering blood everywhere. The one still recording on the floor gasped for breath and looked down at a rat who was eating at one of the broken vials on the floor. More rats joined it as the monster began walking back to him. As soon as it got close enough, they scattered. The last shot was of the monster's foot stepping on the broken vial before cutting out completely.**

“What the hell did we just watch?” Aurora blinked

“The virus. I’ll bet those rats spread it,” Leon said, eyes glued onto the screen. 

“But if it was the rats, can you really blame umbrella for the outbreak then?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said it yourself it was the rats. They didn’t purposely or even accidentally release the virus to the public.”

“But they created the virus. Ada said it herself, they sell the virsus’s to other countries”

“How do we know that’s true? We haven’t heard of any other country using these monsters or anything like this occurring in other places. How can Ada be sure that selling the virus’s is what umbrella is doing and planned on doing?”

“Are you saying this because you don’t trust Ada, or do you actually believe this yourself?”

“How come it can’t be both?” Aurora gave Leon a look them sighed. “Look, I’m just saying that it’s clear that we don’t know the facts. Questioning the validity of what Ada said isn’t me just wanting to not trust her. It’s just that there’s so much we don’t actually know”

“Exactly!” Leon snapped, “we don’t know anything, so until we do let’s not jump to conclusions!”

Aurora blinked in shock at Leon’s outbursts. It was sudden and odd. Al,it as if he didn’t want the question of whether Ada can be trusted asked. As if there was a reason why he wanted to believe her. Sighing, Leon ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that”

Saying nothing, Aurora walked passed him.m They quickly found the door that led to the garbage room. Unfortunately for them, it was locked via an electric lock. There was no physical way of getting in unless they could unlock it. Looking around there was a desk against the opposite wall with a corkboard above it covered in paperwork. Aurora walked over to it and examined it for any clue.

**_Pretty sure the Rook and Knight are on the same wall and the Bishop and Queen aren’t next to each other. The Queen and Rook were opposite each other too._ **

Below that was a note titled unlocking the U-area door.

**I lost the thing that tells you how to unlock the door to the U-Area during the last mad dash of a transfer. I know you have to stick one plug into each terminal, but if anyone remembers which plug goes where, please be a pal and share by posting the info on this board.**

Turning, Aurora round Leon taking one of the plugs out of the 6 breakers. “it’s a Knight,” Leon said with a raised eyebrow

“Perfect,” Aurora started as she walked over to him. Taking the Knight piece from him, Aurora looked at each breaker box. Along with the Knight there was also the bishop and the pawn on the opposite side. She noticed that each box was labeled with where each piece would go, but only the Knight and pawn piece was kept intact.

“So we need three more pieces then”

“The king, Queen and Rook.”

“Problem is, we don’t know where the king and Queen parts are. We know where the Rook is, but we should get that last.”

Taking out the map, Leon and Aurora mapped where they were. They were in the middle part of the sewers in the monitor room. There were multiple rooms among the sewers to check. He work room, the workers break room, and the supply water room. Each room would require them to explore a large part of the sewers as well.

Checking their supplies, Leon and Aurora took note on what they had. Leon was running low on handgun and shotgun ammo. Aurora had a fair amount of handgun ammo which she gave to Leon, and a good amount of flame rounds and acid rounds. She wanted to save as many of them as possible considering she only finds two at a time.

Reloading, the two made their way out of the room. They didn’t know what else they would find in the sewers, but the chess pieces were their top priority.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don’t know how to treat a gunshot wound. When I looked it up, all the articles said the same three things. 1. Do not take the bullet out, 2. Stop the bleeding, and 3. Go to a hospital.


	14. Trash Shute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon and Aurora find what they were looking for and more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter.... just.. this chapter

Walking out of the room It led to the treatment Pool room. By pulling a nearby lever, the walkway that stood high above them began to lower. Once it had reached to the floor, they cautiously made their way across and decided to take a look at the cable car since it led that way. It was a short platform with a desk full of electronic repair parts and a small set of stairs leading down. On the desk was a T-bar lever that looked like it could be useful so they took it.

When they walked up to the cable car door, the sign lit up green with the words 'Visitor' on it. The door didn't open however, and instead, they were met with a monotone voice. **‘ID wristband required for entry.’**

"A wristband? Where are we gonna find that?" Leon huffed as they walked down the stairs. Aurora shrugged.  At the bottom of the stairs was another table covered in repair items and a note. 

**The item below has been delivered to the location specified in your order. It is sitting in the metal table outside of the monitor room**

**Heat-resistant Safe x1**

**The combination is written on the side of the safe in chalk. Please remember to erase it before you use the safe.**

They jogged back the way they came to find the safe. There was a body lying on the ground just a few feet away from them. Taking her knife, Aurora stabbed the zombie in the head, the zombie thrashing on the ground before going silent. With the zombie dead, Aurora read out the code on the side of the safe to Leon who opened it. Inside was a shotgun stock that he easily applied.

Once they were done, they headed back to the door and walked into a dark staircase. The air was starting to stink once again as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Aurora screamed as she was grabbed from the side by a zombie wearing a blue workers jumpsuit. Leon quickly leaped into action and stabbed the zombie in the head with his knife, but was attacked by a heavyset zombie in a hard hat and orange vest. Recovering aurora grabbed her handgun and shot the zombie in the back of the leg, making it stumble enough for Leon to push it away. Grabbing her knife, Aurora stabbed it in the back of its head and it fell down dead.

At the bottom of the stairs they found themselves in a junction that would lead in two directions. One end led down a small staircase while another was blocked by a gate, a running current rushing through the gaps. Leon pulled the switch on the wall next to the gate and it raised it up. 

“Which way,”

Aurora shrugged. Sighing Leon made the decision for them. Leon led them towardsthe dark staircase that led to one of the gates that needed to be raised with a T-Bar handle. With a little bit of a struggle, they inserted the crank and got the gate up, opening the path forward. Walking through was a catwalk that stood high above the bottom waterway. It was dark and lit partially by a couple of dim lights along the walls and a bright red light cascading over the other side of the room where there was a lone door. To get to it, they had to trudge through sewer waters and pulsating growths that sat in mounds across the room. It piled up in corners and was growing up the walls like vines as the sound of tortured moans echoed in the large room. 

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Aurora rolled her eyes

“We have to hurry!”

They continued on the catwalk towards the other end and found a table sitting against the wall. In an open box hanging on the wall, they found a key with a chess insignia and a similar label to the Treatment Facility doors from before. Aurora took the key.

“So how about we do this,” Aurora spoke up, “why don’t you go to the supply storage room and I’ll get that Rook piece we passed”

“You want to split up?”

“You did say we have to hurry.” She shrugged without looking at him. “We’ll meet up at the monitor room. If the pieces are there, then we have all we need. If not, then we’ll keep looking”

Leon stared at her. She was upset with him. Before he could say anything, Aurora gave him a tight lipped smile and made her way back from where they came. He didn’t like that there was tension between them. Tension was never good in a situation like the one they’re in. Splitting up was dangerous, especially with those creatures roaming around the sewer, but there was nothing he could do besides follow her, and that wouldn’t do them any good. The sooner he got to that room the better.

As she made her way back, Aurora groaned as she looked down at the sewers water she would have to get back in. Sucking it up, she shivered as her pants soaked through with the sewer water and trudged forward. The oath led her back to where she and Leon came from. There should be a gate that opened with the T-Bar handle that led somewhere.

As she was trudging through, aurora narrowed her eyes at something g sticking out of one of the sewer holes in the wall. Eyes widening, Aurora did her best to rush through the water before whatever it was dropped out into the water and blocked her way. Just as she passed, the creature fell out of the sewer hole and into the water, making Aurora stumble forward.

She was slow to regain her footing as one of the monsters tenticles wrapped around her waist and lifted her into the air. She screamed, trying to push herself out of its grasp. looking up, she watched its head whip up and open. Grabbing her grenade launcher aurora shot a flame round in its opened mouth. The thing thrashed about, dropping Aurora in the water as it flailed about.

Scrambling to the concrete landing Aurora watched as the monster watched her. It wouldn’t get out of the water. Sticking her middle finger up at the creature, Aurora watched as it sunk back into the water. With the monster gone, Aurora used the t-bar to open the gate. She quickly made her way in and found nothing but a flame round and trash. There was a small lift hidden in the corner of the room that was still functioning. Standing on the lift, she pushed the up button and waited as the lift carried her up a floor.

The room she got to was a small workroom with supplies scattered about and a body lying on the floor. Aurora quickly disposed of it with her knife just in case it was still alive. She found some more handgun ammo and an accident round. Peeking through the peephole slot on the door, Aurora was shocked to find herself back at the start of the sewers. It was almost perfect as it led her straight to the piece she needed.

Unlocking the door, Aurora made her way out of the room and took the rook piece, making the pathway rise and thus inaccessible. Sighing Aurora looked around the silent halls.

“Based on what I know, then back around means facing that monster once again and I don’t want to do that. But there’s no where else for me to go moving forward, so where else am i supposed to go”

Sighing Aurora took out the keys she picked up before leaving Leon, and looked at the locked room before her. Shrugging she made her way towards the break room. Using the keys she u locked the door. There was a table in the middle and lockers lining the walls. Opening every single locker, Aurora was able to find flame rounds and handgun ammo. Turning her attention to the wide cabinet with yellow tape in an X across it she opened the doors, but found nothing.

Searching the room a second time for anything missed, Aurora raised an eyebrow at the barely visible opening on the side of the large cabinet. Gathering all her strength Aurora pushed through cabinet. It moved a little, but enough for Aurora to find that it was covering a hole in the wall. Taking a deep breath, Aurora rubbed her hands together, gathered all her strength and pushed the cabinet to the side until the whole in the wall was revealed to be an elevator.

Aurora thought about how she should move. See where the elevator leads, or head back to the monitor room to see if Leon managed to find the other two parts. Thinking about Leon’s outburst and the object of their fetch quest, Aurora rolled her eyes and stepped onto the elevator with a press of a button. Was her pettiness the wrong thing in the wrong place at wrong time? Yes. But Ada could wait.

As the elevator slowed to a stop and opened to a well-lit room aurora cautiously walked forward. There wasn’t any danger and the room didn’t seem like much. There was a staircase leading up and a box of magnum ammo. Picking it up Aurora raised an eyebrow. There was a hefty sum of bullets in the pack. She wondered who left them there.

As she walked up the stairs, at the top was a gated door that was locked on her side, so she unlocked it and walked inside a dark room. There were more construction supplies lying around and another staircase leading up on the other side.

“Why does this place look so familiar to me?”

Looking around, she found a grande lying on the floor near the staircase, and peaked up. She swore the place seemed familiar. Walking up the stairs Aurora swore as she recognized the door to the room where they found sherry and the monster.

“How the hell am I back in the police station?”

Shaking her head Aurora turned and made her way back down the stairs. There was nothing for her in the police station. As she made her way back to the elevator, a white box caught her attention. Flashing her light inside, Aurora found a gun and some parts that attach to the gun. Trying to lift it up, she found the case to be locked.

“Of course it’s locked”

There was a space on the front of the case that was shaped like a police badge and the S.T.A.R.S. insignia was painted on the glass. Taking out the star badge she kept from the portable safe, Aurora placed it inside the case. The badge fit into place and the case clicked open. Opening it, Aurora picked up the gun and it’s parts.

Looking it over, she didn’t know what type of gun she had or how the parts fit on to it. The gun was heavier then the handgun she had so she figured it was powerful and power was a good thing. Placing the gun parts away, Aurora stepped back into the elevator. She wasted enough time already, she had to get back to make sure leon was still alive.

As she walked out of the break room, she was in a dilemma. She could either A. go the way she came and come face to face with the water creature. Or B. she could find another way around. Option B couldn’t hurt. Walking backwards towards the way she and Leon came before, Aurora begrudgingly stepped back into the sewers water, but walked straight ahead into a path the two ignored in the upper waterway.

The groaning of zombies could be heard as she walked along. There was a zombie wondering in the water, and another on the concrete landed. Locking water towards them Aurora caught their attention. She dodged the zombie in the water that lunged, and smiled when the solid on the landing fell off of it and into the water. Quickly, she climbed onto the landed and used the T-a handle to open the gate. Running through she found herself back where she left Leon.

As she rushed towards the gate, Aurora ran into Leon. The two stared at one another, not knowing what to say. Leon opened his mouth to break the silence, but Aurora beat him to it. “So did you find the pieces?”

“Yeah,” Leon sighed “A king and a Queen, how about you”

“Nothing but a rook. But we only needed three anyway so let’s go save Ada”

“Wait”Leon said as he grabbed her hand to stop

“We need to hurry Leon remember,” Aurora said as she gently took her hand from Leon’s and made her way back towards the monitor room. Sighing, Leon followed behind her. As they made it to the monitor room, Leon spoke again.

“I want to apologize again about earlier, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that”

“So why did you?”

“I don’t—“

“Do you have feelings for her or something?”

“No I—“

“Was it love at first sight, because I can’t think of any other reason why you’re going this hard for someone you just met”

“Shes helped me more than once and I just want to help her in return. It doesn’t do us any good to question whether or not we should save someone that’s helped us”

Aurora stared the blonde for a couple of seconds. There had to more. Back at the police station he learned of chief irons and how he wasn’t who he seemed. He should know that people aren’t who they portray themselves as. Irons was the police of chief and was aiding umbrella and killed his own men. Leon knew this, so why was he so hellbent on Ada?

She the thought back to how leon was determined to save an obviously dying Marvin. No matter how bad he looked or how dire the situation, he was insistent that they could save Marvin and get him to a hospital in time. There’s was no possible way that ,Arvin was going to make it, but Leon believed in him.

During their night, Aurora has noticed Leon’s optimistic naivety. Sure police chief irons turned out to be a terrible person, but Leon didn’t know him. He knew Ada. She saved him.

Opening her mouth, Aurora was stopped by Leon’s radio. It was Claire, and she sounded distressed.

“Leon, something happened”

“Claire! Are you okay!”

“Yeah, but I lost sherry”

“What?!”

Claire explained what happened when they split up. She explains the orphanage and how irons was killed by that monster they face earlier. That it killed the tyrant that was after them and how the monster is actually sherry’s father. That some women named Annette is lurking around and that she’s the one who knows where sherry is.

“What do you mean Annette has Sherry?!” Leon shouted as he and Aurora’s eyes widened at the revelation.

“Thats Sherry’s mother. That monster that Leon fought at the police station, his name William.”

“Listen Claire, Annette is the one responsible for everything. She created the virus”

“What”

“Where are you now”

“I’m in the sewers. The elevator crashed and I was knocked out. I can’t find sherry anywhere”

Aurora and Leon looked at one another. They haven’t found any trace of Sherry as they explored. “Claire, me and Aurora are in the sewers. We haven’t seen any trace of Sherry”

“Shit,” Claire swore

“Where are you in the sewers Claire,” Leon asked as he took out the map

“I don’t know. I’m in a long hallway and I can see a landing coming up”

“Have you encountered any creatures?”

“Just one, it took almost all my ammo to kill it

“That means you’re pretty close.

Aurora pointed to the upper waterway where she and Leon started after he woke up from his wound. She then pointed to the way she came which would bring her to their location, which was close to the monitor room. Leon gave Claire directions of where to go. There was pauses in between as Aurora forgot to mention the two zombies that would appear.

“Claire, I forgot to mention the zombies”

Silence

“Taken care of,”

“Oh thank god,” Aurora breathed.

The two waited another minute before Claire appeared. She looked just as bad as they did, with dirt and grime stuck to her face and her pants soaked. She looked at the two, her gaze lingering on Leon’s wounded shoulder.

“What happened to him”

“Romeo here jumped in front of a bullet for that Ada chick”

Claire raised an eyebrow at Leon, who flushed and looked away. “Come on, we have to go,” he exclaimed as he walked forward. Aurora gave Claire a look and the two followed after him back to the monitor room. Aurora handed Leon the rook piece as he rushed over to the breaker boxes. She walked over to the cork board and grabbed the instructions and read them out loud to Leon.

“The Rook and knight are on the same wall and the bishop and queen aren’t next to each other. The queen and rook were opposite each other, too.”

As Leon was busy placing the chess pieces in the correct sockets, Claire was looking at out the giant glass window that peered into the garbage chute. She narrowed her eyes, spotting the red of Ada’s dress, who was still knocked out from earlier. Pressing her forehead against the glass, her eye caught movement from somewhere else. It was faint, and hidden but Claire was able to spot a head of blonde hair.

“Sherry!” Claire shouted as she banged against the glass

“What!” Leon and aurora chorused

“There’s Sherry,” she pointed as the two ran over, “I know it’s hard to see, but she’s there, hidden behind the trash”

“Do you think that’s why that monster was trying to get inside?” Aurora inquired

“Maybe, but we have to go now,” Leon urged them

It was dark as they descended the short staircase, the room only lit by red emergency lights. They turned the corner and found the giant concrete door still shut. There was a lever next to it which they pulled, but nothing happened.

“Dammit! Need the power on first,” Leon grumbled. He glanced around and noticed a door and a set of windows just across the room. Inside he could see the breaker box that would turn the power on. “Wait here! Tell me if the power is on or not from the other inside. Once the power turns on, pull the lever!” he instructed before running toward the other room. 

The two girls nodded as Leon rushed into the room and towards the power box. Aurora stood by the door, holding it open just in case something were to happen, as she looked back and for there between the red light and Leon. She gave a thumbs down every time he looked her way in and turned around dejected to mess around more with the switches.

Finally, the lights flickered on around her and the red lights faded away. She gave Leon a thumbs up as Claire pulled the lever and watched as the garbage room door began to slowly rise with a loud hum.

Aurora took a step into the room, holding the door open for Leon who smirked. Right when he was about to get to it, a giant claw stabbed through the ceiling. Aurora fell back into Leon as the claw barely grazed her face and the two stumbled back, Leon catching them both from falling to the ground.

“What. The fuck,” Aurora said as the claw tore through the ceiling once again, this time knocking over canister and causing a small fire to break out.

“Shit,” they both cursed as they managed to dodge the claw once again stabbing through the ceiling as the fire started to spread around the room.

“we have to get out of here”

“I know”

As soon as the words left Leon’s mouth, banging against the metal shutters caught their attention. The monster was trying to get inside. If it managed to do that, they we’re screwed.

“Leon,” Aurora’s voice shook

“I have a plan,” the officer said as he grabbed Aurora’s hand and stood by the shutters, “stand by me and close your eyes”

Aurora raised an eyebrow and watched as Leon took out a flash grenade. Understanding, she closed her eyes and waited, squeezing Leon’s hand as the monster continued to bang harder against the metal shutter. With one last bang, Aurora could hear the bang of the flash grenade going off, before she was pulled into a run.

“You can open your eyes now”

Opening her eyes, she and Leon were out of the room, but we’re now running to another dead end with the monster chasing after them. As the jumped down from the platform they were on, a giant container took up a large portion of the platform they were on. Finding the controls, Leon pressed a button that moved the container out of the way.

“Great, we’re stuck once again,” Aurora stated, “what do we do now”

“We fight it,” Leon stated as he grabbed the shotgun off of his back

Looking back towards the creature who was steadily approaching them, Aurora had no choice but to do the same. Switching to acid rounds, Aurora shot first, dousing the monster in acid as they dodged out of an attacking. Leon pumped some shot into the creature, making it fall to its knees as a they switched to handguns and emptied their clips.

It did nothing as the creature got back up. Now that she was able to see it, the monster was different from when they last seen it in the police department. The mass on its shoulder had grown exponentially and had sprouted a small face. The monster lunged at them again and the two dodged out of the way.

I hate to inform you of this Leon,” Aurora said as she reloaded, “But I’m running pretty low on ammunition”

“Me too,” Leon said as he switched from his shotgun to his handgun, “we need to knock this monster down”

“What about the crane, do you think that’ll do it?”

“It’s worth a try. I’ll distract it while you press the button.”

“Here,” Aurora handed Leon the magnum, “found this and you’ll probably need it to keep that thing distracted”

“Thanks,” Leon nodded as he took the magnum from her. With it in hand, he shot the eye of the monster. Leon staged at the recoil, eyes widening as the monster stumbled back with just one bullet. Leon Shot again, brining the monster to its knees as as Aurora pressed the button to bring the crane back around.

Leon trained his gun on the monster as he watched the crane swing around. The monste pr got to his feet, Leon shooting it again, but the monster lunged as it recovered from stumbling back. Aurora’s eyes widened as it had Leon it its grasp, the crane coming closer.

Leon struggled in the monsters grasp. He needed to get out of the way as soon as possible before that crane hits. Grabbing the extra flash grenade, Leon threw it at the masters feet, the force of the bang and the bright light making the monster release him just as the crane hit.

Leon crawled backwards, watching with wide eyes as the di Tai her pushed the monster off of the platform. Aurora helped him up as the loud banging of the monster fighting against the container caught their attention. They watched as the cable holding the container snap and fall into the void below, the area, of the monster disappearing with it.

“Oh thank god,” Aurora breathed

“Look,” Leon pointed to a passage out. With all the destruction the monster caused on its way down, it caused multiple pipes and wooden planks to fall. Creating a makeshift walkway.

“That doesn’t seem safe,”

“Got any other way?”

“No,” Aurora grumbled. Smirking in victory Leon put his gun away and winced, letting out a small gasp as he gripped his shoulder. “Before we do anything, let me check you shoulder”

“It’s alright,” Leon grunted

“So believable. You should have been an actor instead of a cop DiCaprio,” Aurora rolled her eyes, “look, the monster is gone and Ada is fine for now. Let me just look over your shoulder real quick”

The annoyed look on Aurora’s face made leon relent. Settling on the ground, Leon winced as Aurora helped him take of his shirt. The bandage was dirty and stunk like the sewers, and a small patch of blood seeped through the bandages. Taking the first aid kit, Aurora got to work on replacing Leon’s bandages.

“You know, I can only think of one reason why you would ignore your own well being just to get to someone you barely know”

“Are we still on that again”

“Yes, because it’s weird.,” Aurora said as Leon winced, “you deserved that”

“I already told you why I want to help her”

“And that’s understandable. What isn’t, is you ignoring your health in order to get to her. You’re thinking with your dick, and we all know how bad it gets when a man thinks with his dick”

Leon rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Aurora got the hint and continued cleaning his wound in silence

* * *

Claire cursed as she watched Leon and Aurora rush out of the room with William following behind them. The door was wedged shut, no amount of force was enough to knock it off of its hinges. Claire ran a hand through her hair, there must have been something she could do.... as Claire looked for another way around, Annettes voice caught her attention.

“Sherry, I told you I cannot leave until my work here is done”

“That’s what you always say,” sherry replied.

Claire peeked into the sure to find sherry looking up at the camera that gave her mother the ability to see and hear in the room.

“Why didn’t you stay in the house? It was safe there”

“I- I was scared. P” Sherry struggled. It sounded like she was in pain. “Those things were everywhere and-“

“You should’ve called the police! That’s what we taught you”

“I did, but nobody came and you didn’t answer your phone so-“

“Sherry, I don’t have time for this!”

Sherrys groans got louder, and the girl swayed on her feet. Rushing over, Claire caught her before she could fall to the ground. “Are you fucking kidding me!” Claire shouted as she looked up at Annette”

“Claire,” Annettes voice sounded shocked

“Sherry are you alright,” Claire said softly as she looked down at her. There were red gains covering her eye and she was dirtier than before. She was pale and shaking in Claire’s arms, softly groaning from whatever it was that was causing her pain.

“What are you doing?” Annette asked

“I’m here to help”

“Sherry’s been implanted,” Annette revealed, “she can’t be saved”

“You’re her Mother,” Claire barked, “get in here and help her”

“You don’t understand,” Annette cried, “William is still out there, and if I don’t stop him-“

“Fuck William,” Claire shouted, “your daughter should be more important. And if you disagree then this conversation is over”

Running her hands through Sherry’s blonde hair, Claire picked her up. She didn’t know where to go next, but sherry needed help and that’s what Claire intended to do. As she started to walk away, Leon and Aurora appeared.

“Sherry!” Aurora’s eyes widened as she seen the little girl in Claire’s arms

“What happened,” Leon said as he jogged ove to the two and looked down at her

“She’s been Implanted,” Claire said softly, “by whatever that fucking thing is”

“Is she going to be okay?” Aurora asked softly

“I don’t know, but we need to get her help and fast”

“Wait! Wait! Annette called “I... I can treat her.. in my lab. It’s not far away. It’s in the nest, there’s a cable car that can take you there

“Mommy,” Sherry struggled to say through her shaking

“There’s not enough time... millions of lives are at stake... sherry.. mommy loves you sweetie.. goodbye.”

Leon, Aurora and Claire all looked at one another then down at sherry. The poor girl was struggling to stay awake as she shook in Claire’s arms. A scoff from across the room caught the threes attention as Ada dragged herself from th pile she was hiding behind.

“Love my ass,” she muttered

“Ada!” Leon rushed over to her

“Theres a cable car close by” Aurora said as she watched Leon crouch down by her side. “we can get on, but we need a ID wristband to get on it”

Claire looked down at the glowing green light on Sherry’s wrist. “I think we have that”

“Alright, then let’s hurry”

“Wait,” Leon called. he managed to take the metal shard out of Ada’s leg but the wound was bleeding, “Aurora, I need your help with the wound”

“I can do it myself,” Ada exclaimed

“Well there you go,” Aurora shrugged

“We don’t have time for this,” Claire declared, “I’m going to go in ahead, you two can meet up with me if you want”

“You’re right that we don’t have time for this. That’s why I’m goin with you,” Aurora stated. “Right now Sherry is priority, Ada is hurt but she’ll live. All you need to do is to stop the bleeding, disinfect her wound and wrap it. It’s simple” Aurora said as she handed Leon her first aid bag. There wasn’t much left inside, but it was more than enough to help Ada.

Sighing Leon nodded and picked up the first aid kit, tending to Ada’s wound as Claire and Aurora walk away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was a pain to write.


	15. Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Headed for nest, Aurora, Sherry, and Claire bond. When they arrive, Annette is waiting for them when tells them of the anti viral agent and Claire leaves with annette to get it. Meanwhile Aurora Learns something about Ada and stays back to warn Leon

Aurora led Claire through the sewers and towards the cable car. The walk was silent, Sherry’s shaky breathing echoing through the sewers. When they reached the cable car, the door beeped and slid open in response to the bracelet Sherry wore, allowing the trio to walk in. It was a metal car with control panels on either end and a window peering through the front and back. Near the control panel was a metal bench. Walking over to it, Claire set Sherry down.

“Hold on Sherry, you’re going to be just fine,” Claire said softly as she brushed the girls hair. Sherry grunted in response as Aurora made her way to the controls. With the pull of a switch, the cable car started moving.

_** This train is bound for nest, do not exit until final destination. ** _

Settling down, Aurora looked over at Claire who was now in a black tank too as she placed her coat onto a shivering sherry. She watched as Claire’s continued to comfort the young girl who went silent and sighed. sitting herself down at the foot of the control panel Aurora placed her weapons to the side.

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel bad for leaving Leon. I know he’ll be alright, but still”

“I was wondering what was up with you two back there. You seemed jealous”

Aurora scoffed, “I barely know him. But we started this entire thing together. We survived together and fought together. I guess I got attached and want us to make it out of here together.”

“Considering he survived that monster twice, that guy can handle himself,” Claire said. “I feel we should trust Leon’s judgement.”

“My judgement told me that if I stuck with Leon, I would survive. So far, my own judgement hasn’t let me down”

“What is it that you find sketchy about her anyway”

“Her story doesn’t work, She’s said she’s Investigating umbrella. She knew who Annette was, she knew umbrella had a secret lab, but for some reason, despite this, she was in the police station trying to get a memo from a reporter. Information that she already should know and knew she wasn’t going to get straight from the targets mouth. She would have to be an amateur, or stupid to rely on it”

Claire nodded as Aurora gave her case. It wasn’t that Aurora went in wanting to distrust Ada, but her timing and her reaction to the situation made her come off as suspicious.

“With my brother missing, umbrella, and Ada, it seems we’ve stumbled into something bigger than we could have ever thought”

”no kidding,” Aurora sighed. Just as she said that Sherry’s moans caught their attention.

“Hey are you okay” Claire said softly as Sherry turned over in her lap

“Your jackets so warm”

“My brother gave it to me,” Claire smiled, “it’s supposed to be lucky”

Sherry moaned again, “I don’t know what I would do without you, or Leon, or Aurora”

“You we’re doing just fine until we came along and got you into all sorts of trouble,” Claire joked. “I have something of yours.”Digging into her coat pocket Clair took out the golden locket.

“I don’t want it,” Sherry turned away

“Really? Why not? it’s so pretty”

It’s-it’s from my mom. For my birthday last year.” Sherry groaned again. “All I really wanted was for her to be home more”

“I know the feeling,” Aurora said as stood up and made her way to the pair. “My dad was a scientist too. He was so absorbed in his work he missed birthdays, holidays, graduations, even years of our lives”

Aurora smiled as she softly told Sherry a particular story about her father missing out on the engagement of her eldest sister. Her then boyfriend at the time Sebastian wanted a proposal that had everyone in it. It was all her sisters and her brother, sebastians brothers and their parents. Their father said he would be able to participate, but when the time came he didn’t show. It’s why he’s not invited to the wedding.

“I’ve never been to a wedding,” Sherry said

“Well when we get you all better, you can be my plus one”

“Really?”

“Sure, I don’t have anyone else to go with”

Sherry smiled, “We can go shopping after this”

“Of course, get you a real cute dress and do your hair up real nice”

Sherry started to moan louder, the smile dropping off of her face as she held her eye in pain and started to shake. Claire looked at Aurora in panic and sat sherry up, holding her to her chest as she tried to ease the pain.

“It’s okay Sherry. You’re going to be okay”

“Why- why are you two doing this?” She asked

“Because we care,” Claire stated

Now arriving at NEST.  They all looked out of the window and realized the car was beginning to slow at the end of the track towards a platform. Claire picked up Sherry and made her way out of the car, Aurora following behind as as she grabbed her weapons.

They made their way across the platform and found themselves standing face to face with a large electronic gate. The green screen flashed and the gate began to lift.  “For your safety, stand clear until the doors are fully open,” the automated voice repeatedly said while the gate rose, revealing another behind that and another behind that. Once all the doors were opened, the duo walked forward.

The lights flickered on revealing the brightly lit and sterile atmosphere of the reception area. The Umbrella Corp. logo was planted on the wall behind the large reception desk. “ Welcome to NEST. Enjoy your visit,” the automated voice said in the intercom.

“You made it,” Annette said she appeared in front of them. She looked down at sherry, running her hand through her blonde hair. “She’s getting worse”

“Can you help her?”

“Yes,” Annette said as she looked at Claire. “But I can’t get to my lab with those things around. I’m going to need your help”

“What about Sherry?”

“Here,” Annette ushered them into a room where there was a bed. Claire laid sherry down as Annette looked over some files on the computer next to it. “The antiviral agent should be ready”

“Would it work on the fully infected, like William?” Aurora wondered

“Unfortunately not,” Annette said, “those who have been infected are a lost cause. We can save Sherry as she’s not fully turned, but once it spreads, there’s nothing we can do”

“Then we shouldn’t waste anymore time”

“Before that,” Aurora stopped them, “how do you know Ada?”

Annette blinked, “she’s a spy,” Annette revealed, “she was hired by someone to get the G-Virus. Whatever she’s said to you, do not let her get it. If you think it’s bad that this spread accidentally, imagine what would happen with someone who wants it for themselves”

“Aurora nodded, “you two go on ahead then. Leon is coming this way with her. If you two are focused on the antiviral agent, then Leon will undoubtedly get the virus and give it to her”

“Are you sure?” Claire said looking between the two

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I do have to make sure he doesn’t die”

Claire smiled and then looked down at Sherry. “You’re going to need this,” Claire said as she handed her Sherry’s wrist ID

“Thank you,” Aurora took the wristband from Claire. She took a glance down at Annette’s wrist where her own ID band sat and noticed that it was different than the one she had. With a nod to Annette, the two women left.

Sighing, Aurora took a seat at the end of the bed and fixed her ponytail. Everything was coming to a head at this point. Grabbing her weapons Aurora checked her inventory. She had about 8 acid rounds, and 5 flame rounds left, as well as 24 bullets in her gun with no other bullets on her, and a knife.

Standing up, Aurora stretched, her bones cracking loudly in the silence making Aurora sigh in content. Looking around the room Aurora found some shotgun shells and 2 flame rounds. She found a map of the facility as well as a list of codes. Looking at the computer, Aurora went through the emails but found nothing of importance.

Footsteps in the hall caught Aurora’s attention as the automated voice saying  ‘Access Denied’ echoed through the hall. Giving a final loot at sherry, aurora walked out of the room to find Leon. The look on his face was unreadable and Ada was nowhere in sight. Raising an eyebrow, she wondered if something happened between the two of them after she and Claire left.

“Leon,” Aurora called catching his attention.

Leon looked over at her, and then looked around, “where Claire? Where’s Sherry?”

“Sherry is in the security room laying down. Claire went with Annette to get an antiviral agent to help her”

“That’s good,” Leon nodded. It went silent. Aurora wanted to ask about what happened on the ride to nest, but decided against it. “we still need to get that sample before we can leave.” Leon stated

“We’re still doing that?”

“It’s our only shot at evidence against umbrella,” Leon stated, his eyes hard. Aurora could only nod. “Only problem, is that we don’t have any access to the facility”

“I was able to glance at Annettes wristband, it seems like we need to update the chip to get more access into the building”

“Know anybody who can give that to us”

“No, but we are in a lab that’s currently been infected, let’s look around and see if we can find one off of a body”

“That’s dark,” Leon grimaced

Aurora shrugged. “Got any better ideas”

“Nope”

“Then lets get to it”

“Wait,” Leon said, “let’s check inventory first while we have the chance. I haven’t had the time to check”

Aurora nodded. As Leon set each of his weapons down, Aurora’s eyes widened at the sheer amount he managed to accumulate. “Is that a flamethrower? When did you get a flamethrower?”

“It was in the sewers”

“What,” Aurora breathed in disbelief as Leon laughed.

As Leon rotated his shoulders and stretched. Aurora looked through his weapons. He had an upgraded Matilda handgun, a flamethrower, an upgraded shotgun, and a magnum. All of which he found in the police station(or under the police station if you ignore the connection to the police station). It was amazing how convenient the last two weapons were.

“All these weapons are going to kill your shoulder”

“What do you suggest?”

“Well, I have two weapons on me, and you have four. So I take the flamethrower since it’s big and you already have the shotgun on your back, and balance each other out

“Sounds good,” Leon grunted as another popping sound echoed in the hall. After Leon was all stretched out, he grabbed all his weapons, Aurora handing him the box of shotgun shells which Leon reloaded. Reloading herself, the two looked at one another and nodded.

“Which way then”

“Theres only one way to go?” Aurora pointed to the only accessible door in the hall. they made their way to the door and took out their guns. Leon carefully creaked the door open to a pitch dark hallway that smelled like blood.

“I don’t like the look of this,” Auroramuttered as they walked in while taking out their flashlights. The light flashed onto a sign on the wall pointing them towards the cafeteria. Below it, there was a window that peeked into it. Turning the corner, they were met with the sight of blood splattered across the walls and all over the floor at the end of the hallway.

“Goddamn,” Aurora whispered

Turning the next corner, they could hear the sound of zombies growling coming from the room next to them. Looking at each other, Aurora and Leon took a breath and nodded. They would have to kill every zombie in the room to check if the has the right chip for them to use.. Taking a deep breath, they stood near the door and watched it slide open. A lone zombie was alerted to the noise and stumbled it’s way into the hallway.

Using his knife, Leon stabbed the zombie in its head. They watched as it fell to the ground dead before Leon checked its body. No blue chip. Leon led the way through the small cafeteria with his shotgun, blowing the heads off of the three zombies they came across. Aurora checked the dead bodies, and so far no chip was found.

“Aren’t these people employees,” Aurora rolled her eyes

“They must be low ranking ones,” Leon said as he picked up some ammo, and a grenade.

At the back of the room was a ladder.The two climbed the ladder and kind themselves in a vent. They followed the open pathway until they reached the end of the vent. They dropped down into it easily and found themselves in the kitchen. Leon grabbed the extra knife on the counter as the kitchen door slid open to another blood-splattered hallway

A zombie in tactical gear stood in front of door. Leon snuck up behind it and stabbed his knife in the zombie’s head. With that zombie down, the hallway was clear leading up to the nap room door. Walking in, they were met with a smaller room that had three gated up beds lined on the wall. In the middle bed, a hand was stuck out and jutted under the gate with blood spattered along the wall.

Checking the body, Aurora smiled as she held up the limp wrist. On it was an ID wristband with a blue chip. Leon rolled his eyes as Aurora took the chip out of the wristband and updated her own wristband as Leon looked around the room and found some shotgun shells. Looking into the lockers, he also found a regulator for the flamethrower. Leon upgraded the weapon for Aurora who thanked him.

With nothing else in the room, the two quickly made their way back towards the reception area. As they made their way to the door, the automated voice spoke out.

_** ‘Dr. Li, your presence is urgently requested by Chief Cartwright in the East Area.’ ** _

Walking through the door, they were taken aback by the sight of the facility. The cement ceiling stood high above them with many bright lights shining down on them. 

From where they stood, there was no way onto the other side. They could see an elevator shaft sitting in the middle of the room on the middle platform as well as the three other areas to the facility: the East and West areas on opposite sides.

On the small platform they were on, there was a machine with the same blue screen as their chip and a button on it. With a press of the button, a metal bridge stretched out. As they waited for the bridge to connect, Leon noticed a body of a soldier slouched against the railing on the other side of their platform.

Deciding to take a look, Leon picked up a recorder sitting on the floor by the body and pressed play. The voice that spoke was muffled, but they were able to hear everything.

**“Alpha to Ghost. Target moving to the West Area. Must be going to retrieve the G-Virus, and antiviral agent.”**

**“This is Ghost. Understood. Rendevous at Point W-3,”**

**“Roger.” There was a pause before he spoke again. “This is Alpha. Arrived at destination.”**

**“Understood. Stand by for target.” Another pause.**

**“This is Alpha. I’ve got eyes on the target. He’s going to open the safe.”**

**“Roger. Awaiting the signal,”**

**“Got eyes on the G-Virus.”**

**“We’re going in.”**

**“Doctor Birkin, you’ll come along with us quietly”**

The recording ended at that. Putting down the recorder, Leon nodded over towards the area on the right. “G-Virus is in the West Area...Got it,” he recounted. The pair quickly made it across the bridge and around the elevator where two separate machines sat, they made their way over to the machine close to the west area.

“Shit,” Aurora groaned as the were denied access to the west area due to their id bands not having access.

“Guess we have to find another chip”

“And where will we find that? The only chip we found was this blue one.”

Looking over at the other machine, Leon walked over and with the press of a button, the bridge extended to the east area. Sighing Aurora followed behind Leon across the bridge. Walking through the door, they were met with bright lights and an odd smell. A broken pipe was releasing the smell into the air as flies buzzed around it.

Continuing forward they passed through the door in front of them and found themselves in a large waiting room with a couple rows of black leather chairs on one side and what looked to be a nursing station on the other. The medicine cabinet on the wall was thrashed as medicine bottles were spread around on desks and on the floor. There was nothing of note besides handgun ammo Aurora picked up.

There were two doors in the area. The one towards the back of the room was locked from the other side, but the door closest to the desk slid open to a horrendous sight. Pressed against the glass was a man in a yellow hazard suit by a giant plant-like looking creature. Through the window a purple light flashed out of place to the scene.

Walking up to it, they noticed the glass was shattered and The plant part was thick and it looked like a mouth was pushing the man against the window. The plant wasn’t moving either. “Jesus….What happened here?” Leon questioned.Peeking into the room, they realized it was a giant greenhouse filled to the brim with other plants, trees, and vines that slithered up the walls.

“You want to know the real kicker,” Aurora said as she pointed to the flashing chip pressed yo against the glass

“Great”

“We are doing way to much for your crush on Ada” Aurora half joked as she moved away from the window.

“I don’t have a crush on her,” Leon rolled his eyes as the two made their way over to the door. They noticed a computer at the end of the room, but required higher authorization to access. Ignoring that, they made their way to the door leading out. The door struggled to open with a loud hiss. Vines had crept across the door, holding the door from opening until eventually technology won and the door slid all the way open.

The hallway they came across was very dimly lit and narrow. Turning on their flashlight, they was hesitant to find the room covered in vines. There were scientific pieces of equipment lining shelves that were entangled in the plants. Shining a flashlight up near the ceiling, there was a body hanging up by vines. Leon and Aurora bitch walked past it quickly, hoping it wouldn’t drop to the ground and wake up.

Aurora found some flame rounds sitting in a cart when the mixed sound of gurgling and clicking caught their attention. From the pathway, a horrifying new creature crept towards them. It looked like a human body fused with the plants. There were vines and leaves sprouting all over it and covered parts of the body. The face was like a skull with its hollowed-out eyes and its mouth seemed to split down the middle with sharp teeth in its wake.

“Holy shit!” Aurora hissed with wide eyes. Grabbing her grenade launcher, she shot the creature with a flame round. The creatures body immediately lit up in flames as if flailed around. Not wasting any time, Leon and Aurora rushed past it into what looked like a control room. “So there’s plant monsters now too!”

“So the virus works on people, animals, and plants. If we don’t stop this now, its the entire goddamn planet at stake”

Right in front of themwas a counter in the middle of the room that had a flash grenade. Leon took it as Aurora looked around. There was a giant monitor with a a map showcasing where they were and where to go. There were two places that was locked, and a keypad at the bottom of the map. Digging into her pocket, Aurora took out the list of codes she got from the security room. There was one labeled greenhouse latch, and another labeled drug testing lab. Using the codes, Aurora unlocked both doors.

**_Dispensing solution now_ ** **,** the automated voice stated over the intercom. Turning around, Aurora found Leon by some other machine and looked into the greenhouse.

they watched the sprinkler systems spray the solution over the greenhouse but nothing seemed to happen.

“Well that was a pointless,” Aurora said just as a dispersal cartridge was ejected out of the machine. Leon grabbed it from the machine. “What are we going to do with that?”

“Don’t know,” Leon shrugged, “but there’s a reason why something like this exists. Maybe we can use it somehow”

“Hmm,” Aurora thought as she grabbed the empty cartridge from Leon’s hand. “My dad use to work in a lab and they had failsafe methods in case something went bad. Maybe this is one of those methods. Like, if the plants got too crazy, they could instantly kill them if they made a plant killing solution”

“That can work,” Leon nodded, “if we can Kill the plant, then we can get to the body and the wristband”

“Problem is, is that we don’t know if that solution exists”

“There’s only one way to find out”

Looking at the map on the wall, Aurora knew Leon meant the drug lab not to far from where they were. Sighing, Aurora reloaded her grenade launcher and they walked out into the greenhouse. Looking up among the plants, they could see countless dead bodies hanging around. Ignoring them, they carefully walked down the metal steps into the room. They turned a corner to head towards the way they needed to go and saw one of those plant zombies near where the ladder was.

Shooting it with a flame round, Leon and Aurora watched as it turned towards them and took a step forward before falling to the ground. Handing Leon her grenade launcher, Aurora took the flamethrower and engulfed the flaming body with flames. They watched as plant convulsed in the ground.

“Of course its Fire,” Aurora tapped her head in a duh motion, “they’re plants, and plants natrual enemy is fire”

They watched as the plant turned black and stopped moving. Walking past it, the two made their way to the drug testing lab. the room was empty sans one body inside that was in a yellow hazmat suit. Leon kicked the body to check if it was alive and it didn’t move. With confirmation, Leon bent down to check the body for an ID chip

As Leon checked the body, Aurora looked around the lab to find a cartridge. On one of the tables was a report.  **Plant 43 Herbicide Synthesis**

  1. **Place an empty cartridge into the Solution Dispenser**
  2. **Add the required amount of UMB No.21 (Ρ-ε)**
  3. **Cool immediately**



**Plant 43 exhibits astounding growth. If something unfortunate were to occur, it may be hard to control. In the event of an unforeseen incident, manufacture the herbicide using the instructions above in order to minimize damage.**

“Plant 43 Huh.” Aurora raised an eyebrow “So we have to make the solution ourselves then,” Aurora stated as she turned to Leon who stood up and pocketed a grenade.

“I don’t know about you but I’m not a chemist”

“I’m not either but we’ll figure it out”

To their right was a machine in the corner. Walking over to it, Aurora noticed a place that looked like it could fit the cartridge. Aurora put the empty cartridge into a slot and watched as the machine began to move things around. There were three tubes inside it, each a different size and there was green liquid in two of them. 

**_Manual mode engaged. Adjust amount of solution to match cartridge capacity,_ ** an automated voice said from the machine. A red line appeared on the first tube showing how much liquid needed to fit in it. There were three buttons beneath the tubes in blue, green and red that had symbols showing them which ones rotated and how to fill them.

“Lets get to it” Aurora said as she reached for the buttons. It turned out to be more difficult than they thought. They each kept pushing buttons hoping for it to work, but they always missed the mark by just a bit over or under. 

“OH MY GOD!” Aurora groaned in frustration as she missed the mark once again. “I give up. I don’t want to do this anymore. Fuck raccoon city, fuck the world”

Leon chuckled as he watched aurora throw a tantrum. “Alright, let me try”

“Go ahead,” she threw her hands up and moved out of the way for Leon.

Taking the reigns Leon wasn’t doing any better. Just like Aurora, he always went over or under the desired amount. On his umpteenth try, Leon dramatically fell against the machine. Aurora chuckled at his dramatics.

“We’re going to fucking die, all because we can’t figure out the right combination to fill up the glass”

“We can’t give up. I almost had it this time”

Walking towards him, Aurora watched as Leon presses the red button first and stopped. His face was scrunched up in thought of his next move. He then pressed the green button and watched as the middle liquid reduced until the left cartridge was full. They both looked at the cartridges in deep thought.

“Switch the low cartridge with the empty one,” Aurora suggested.

“I tried that before”

“Lets do it again then.”

Nodding Leon pressed the blue button and switched the middle cartridge with the right cartridge. “Now switch the empty middle one, with the full one on the left and drain it”

Leon listened, his face coming to a realization as the full cartridge emptied until it filled the left cartridge. “You got to be kidding me,” Leon said in exhasperation as he switched the middle cartridge with the right, and then switched it again. 

“Are you fucking serious,” Aurora sucked her teeth as Leon pressed the green button and the container filled until it reached the red line. “was it really that easy the entire goddamn time”

“Apparently” Leon said as he grabbed the cartridge full of herbicide.“Now all we have to do is cool it”

“And how do we do that?”

“Let’s check the map again”

Leaving the drug testing lab, Leon and Aurora headed back to the control room to check over the map. There wasn’t anything useful to them in the greenhouse or the drug testing lab. Switching to the lower areas, Leon pointed to the room titles low temp testing lab. “My best bet is we can cool it in a low temperature lab”

“Makes sense. We just have to go down that hatch”

“Let’s just hope there aren’t anymore of those plant creatures around”

“Don’t jinx it”

Leon smiled and the two carefully made their way out of the control room. Right in the way of the oath forward was a plant creature. Leon swore as Aurora readied the flamethrower. Walking slowly towards the creature, Aurora screamed and jumped back as a body fell from the ceiling. There were two plant monsters to deal with now, and they were both making their way quickly to the two.

Hands shaking, Aurora fidgeted with the flamethrower when she was grabbed. The hollow of its face split into two revealing rows of teeth. Screaming, as the entire head split, Leon jumped into action, stabbing the plant creature in one of its bulbs. The plant release Aurora, who backed up quickly away quickly from the creatures and engulfed them in flames. They went down after a couple of seconds, Aurora occasionally spraying the body with fire until the bodies stopped convulsing and turned pitch black.

“Fuck these things” Aurora hissed as she and Leon walked past the charred bodies. They made it to the hatch and made their way down. At the bottom of the ladder, they found themselves in a small underground pipe room. It was narrow and dark, but clear of any dangers.

“Fun fact,” Aurora said as the two peered around the ladder. “the last thing i was studying in college was ecology and batony”

“Really?” Leon said in surprise

“Yup, it was really interesting too. Plants are dangerous as fuck and they actually scare me”

They found a table sitting at one end of the room. On it was a map to the East Area and a 4 magnum bullets. Leon took both the magnum bottle and the map. Looking over the map, they found another room not far away that led to the lounge, which led to the low temperature room they needed.

“What made you want to study plants?”

“Nothing in particular, seen a plant that closes when touched and thought, ‘wow, okays shouldn’t do that, they’re plants, they only react to the seasons. Why does this plant react to touch and what else can plants can do’”

“And what else can they do?”

“Adapt and survive. It’s like, I know they do the whole seasons thing, but something about knowing that there are plants that function in a day and night cycle, and that they can trap food, and spread and actually breed, scares me”

Leon chuckled as they made their way out of the underground passage. The place was dark, barely lit by emergency lights dotted around the room. They carefully crept towards the lounge and found the bodies of scientists lying dead around the floor. Taking out his knife, Leon stabbed each scientist through the head, the bodies jumping up to attack Leon before ultimately dying. With each kill, Leon checked the wrist for the chip they needed.

As Leon was taking care of the scientist, Aurora was looking around the room. Near the body was a electric box on the wall with the word MURF on it. There was nothing to do with that so she turned away. There was blood splattered everywhere and part of the ceiling looked like it had been torn through. Surveying the long scratch marks on the wall, Aurora let out a low groan.

“Lickers,” she whispered to Leon

“Here?“ he whispered back

“Yeah, somewhere”

They began making their way forward towards the low temp room. They were quiet as to not sort any potential lockers that were lurking around as they did so. They made it to the room, but the door wouldn’t open. There was no power where they were.

“Great,” Aurora whispered, “now what”

“Let’s see if we can find a power box,” he pointed towards the door a couple feet away from them.

Just as they turned the sound of thumping from above them stopped them in their tracks. All of a sudden, the vent on the ceiling broke and fell to the floor with a licker sitting on top of it. The pair froze and watched as another licker crawled out from the hole and across the ceiling.

Leon quickly grabbed hold of Aurora, stopping her from reacting out of fear and surprise. Leon guided her quietly back towards the lounge area. Each step they took the lickers hissed and sniffed the air. Leon whispered in Aurora’s ear quietly to grab something to throw. Looking around, she found a random trophy sitting in the table and picked it up. I motioned towards where they entered from, and Aurora got the hint. Throwing the trophy, they waited with bated breath as the lickers screeched and followed the sound.

The two quickly bolted towards the clear path door. Behind the, they could hear the putter latter of the lickers claws, but they ignored it in favor of bursting through the door, and closing it shut.

“I fucking hate this place,” Aurora breathed

“Ditto”

They walked through a short hallway to the door on the other side that opened to the stairwell that they saw on the map. It was just as dark and dimly lit and just as dangerous as a growl from the corner caught them by surprise. They watched as a lone zombie tried to get onto its feet. Letting out a huff, Aurora grabbed her knife and made quick work of it.

They carefully continued up the stairs, uneasy by the silence. After a few flights, they were just about halfway to the top when a body suddenly plunged down from above them, hitting the floor with a loud thud. Aurora and Leon didn’t react, looking dow at the body that groaned as it tried to get up. Leon stabbed it in the head before it could get up. Once he was done, they noticed vines hanging in the corners of the walls. They didn’t see any bodies hanging around, but they remained cautious just in case.

Reaching the top of the stairs they came across an open door. The room was a storage room with another door on the other side that would lead back to the waiting room. Just as they walked in, they could hear another growl from behind a box near the other door. A lady zombie stood up and began stumbling over to them so Leon shot it in the end a couple of times before it fell to the ground. Walking over to it, Aurora stabbed it in the head just in case.

“You know, at this point, the zombies aren’t that scary anymore”

“I know what you mean. Dogs, lickers, and plants make for scarier creatures than flesh eating people”

“To be fair, cannibalism existed before this”

The room was a mess but they were able to find some flame grenades, a box of handgun ammo, and an electric box. In that box, sat a piece of machinery. with wavy lines across it as well as knobs for moving them and words used for specific settings above it. When turned on, it let out two high pitched drones that changed when moved. Reading a label on the back, it said it was a signal modulator and its purpose was for equipment maintenance.

“What do you think this is used for”

“Probably the power. This is the only room that has its lights on opposed to the other places”

“That makes sense. But that means we have to go back to the lounge with the lickers”

“Well, we need to cool the herbicide, so we don’t seem to have a choice”

Rolling her yes, Aurora groaned loudly. Chuckling Leon noticed a nite sitting in a chair. Picking it up he read it over. “‘ Everybody’s turned...vegefied...They keep coming back, again and again. Burn them all. Burn them until their whole body is black as ash. There’s no other way,’”

“Yikes”

“No kidding”

Looking around, Leon unlocked the door and the two found themselves back in the waiting room. Looking at each other, they decided to head back down the stairs. The lickers should still be in the hall away from the door, making it easier for them to get to the electrical box.

As they made their way down the stairs, Aurora messed with the modulator. At the top of the screen were five different settings; OSS, MUF, AWS, URF, and MURF. Aurora recognized MURF from the lounge and switched the setting to that. As she clicked through the different settings, the yellow lines changed through each one. Raising an eyebrow, Aurora wondered what it meant.

Testing out the dials, the yellow line moved. One line stayed the same though, and she wondered if she had to match it to that. Stopping, she sat at the bottom of the stairs to get it right.

“What are you doing?”

“Seeing if I can get the lines to matchup”

Leon leaned against the railing and watched her work. It was an impromptu break, but one Leon could appreciate.

It didn’t take aurora long to match the wavelengths and the two were once again moving. Leon peeked our of the hall, where the lickers were nowhere not be found. Nodding towards Aurora, the two made their way towards the box. Leon took the lead, holding out the shotgun in case they grabbed the attention the lickers. It took some tried, but Aurora managed to put the modulator in place. It beeped in success and the lights overhead turned on. 

Turning around aurora jumped at the sight of the two lickers. One was against the wall, while the other was on the ground stalking closed to them. Leon grabbed her wrist and quietetly stepped over the bodies of the scientist just as one of the lickers jumped into the place they were just standing.

Aurora’s heart beat wildly as she and leon slowly and carefully made their way towards the low temp room. After what felt like a millenia, the two made it inside the low temp room and the door slid closed behind them. They could faintly hear the licker outside screech after hearing the door beep open and close.

“Oh my god that was scary”

“No kidding,” Leon breathed, “guess we jinxed it earlier huh,” he smiled

Aurora laughed and the two made their way through the room. The room was dark, the only light coming from a window that looked into the actual cooling lab. Turning the corner, and automated voice called out to them.

**_‘Welcome back, Dr. Li. You have [5] new messages.’_ **

In front of the computer sat a body that Aurora stabbed through the head just in case. Leon hummed curiously as he clicked on the computer. It opened to Dr. Li’s inbox.

**Sender: Rick Mendoza**

**Subject: What's he up to?**

**Can you believe that bastard Cartwright? Cool your jets, asshole! Well, I guess he is the boss... For now. Anyway, have you seen my helix anywhere? I put the secret on the bottom. Let me know if you find it!**

**Sender: Bryon Cartwright**

**Subject: Busy guy, huh?**

**So you couldn't make our little meeting? Fine, don't worry about the Greenhouse inspection. Instead I'll give you something real simple to do: put together the budget estimate for the year after next. And get it done tonight!**

**Sender: Rick Mendoza**

**Subject: Are you alive?**

**We're under attack. People are dead. The East Area is cut off. We can't operate the bridge with the wristbands we have here. Where is that bastard Cartwright hiding!?**

**Sender: Rick Mendoza**

**Subject: Please Reply!**

**Plant 43 is going wild! The Greenhouse is hell! We need to send someone in there before it's too late. Wayne, how do we stop this thing? You have to help us. Please reply!**

**Sender: Rick Mendoza**

**Subject: (None)**

**Do you remember Susie, the cheerleader? What a great gal. We were both into her. Of course, she wasn't into nerds... I still have to give you back those comics and games I borrowed. But you might have to wait a while.**

“Just what type of workplace was umbrella?” Leon wondered aloud. “It seems that everywhere you look someone was hiding something and using their experiments for their own purposes behind the companies back”

Moving on the two moved on towards the lab. Passing through a small room with hazmats suits in it, they walked into the lab and started shivering immediately. There was frost everywhere and the air fogged every time they breathed out. As the walked in further, they found the source came from one of the refrigerator doors that was left open.

Aurora crossed her arms, rubbing them up and down to create warmth. She hated being cold almost as much as she hated being hot. Leon shivered as they walked through the room toward one of the machines. “Who left the freezer open!?” he said incredulously.

They quickly reached a machine that that had a small opening that looked about the same size as the cartridge they had. Taking out the cartridge, Leon then he pushed it into the machine. As they waited for the machine to cool the cartridge, Aurora pressed herself onto Leon, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her face in his back. She groaned as she felt him jump.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s cold,” Aurora whined

Leon laughed, “you hate the cold?”

“I hate being cold.” She corrected, “I love winter, it’s my second favorite season”

“What’s the first?”

“Fall. The outfits are cute, the weather is perfect, and the cafe’s have the best drinks”

“Yeah, I like fall too, though I do favor summer”

“I hate being hot”

“Ah, so you like the not too cold, not too hot weather”

“Exactly. Spring almost made it, but allergies fucking suck”

Leon laughed and the two stayed like that for about a minute as the machine ejected the cartridge back to them cooled. Aurora didn’t let go of Leon until they made it out of the cold.With solution in hand, they carefully made their way out of the room. There was a licked hanging on the wall in front of them and a licked on the floor a free feet away. They hissed as the door opened but didn’t make a move. As quietest and as quickly as they could, the two backed up until the reached the door leading to the staircase.

Once safe on the other side, they made up the stairwell. A plant creature appeared from up the stairs, and Aurora quickly burned it with the flamethrower. They didn’t wait for the creature to burn, and instead ran past it and made it back to the waiting area.

From there, they made it to the control room. As Leon was about to place the cartridge in the dispenser, Aurora stopped him. Confused, Leon looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Before we go any further, I need to tell you something important”

“About what”

Ada.. Do not give the virus to her. She’s not who you think she is or who she says she is”

Leon started at aurora. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes were hard set with a hint of desperation in them. It was like she needed Leon to believe her. To trust her with what she was saying... Leon didn’t have any reason to distrust her.. they started the nightmare together side by side. He’s saved her life and she saved his. They been through what felt like an entire lifetime together. Ada on the other hand was a mystery. He couldn’t figure her out. Couldn’t read her. She was guarded, even when they agreed to team up. but in the cable car something changed. Something Leon couldn’t understand.

“I.. I know that,” he confessed, “deep down, I always knew she wasn’t who she said she was. When we get the virus, I’ll keep it and give it to the proper authorities”

“No,” Aurora shook her head, “the smart thing to do is destroy it. You’ve seen how umbrella operated. everyone was turning on one another and doing things behind the companies back.. if you keep the virus around, the government would only use it”

“It’s evidence. The only way to prove that this is something that umbrella caused, is to give it as evidence for proof.”

“Leon, we’re in an umbrella facility surrounded by proof. All you need to do is copy a file or something. Find a tape. Anything. We don’t need to actual virus”

“Why do you want to destroy the virus so badly? You accuse Ada of being suspicious but it feels awfully convenient that you want it destroyed”

“That’s because I’m not a fucking idiot. Keeping it around will only increase the chances that someone would replicate it. Or worse, what if it spreads again in government hands? There’s so many possibilities, why risk it?”

Leon was quiet. Not saying another odd, he turned and placed the cartridge into the machine.

“Dispensing solution now, ” the automated voice said over the intercom. The plants herbicide sprayed into the greenhouse, plants dropping in death in the process. The pair watched in amazement as the body of the scientist was released by the plant and fell onto the floor with a loud thud. With the scientist now free, the two made their way back into the greenhouse.

That did the trick,” Leon muttered as they got closer to the body. 

“Warning: You have dispersed a dangerous solution without authorization. Your actions have been logged and you may be subject to disciplinary measures.”

An ivy fell from above in front of them. Quickly jumping into action, Aurora sprayed it with fire, backing up as the creature took a step forward before falling to the ground. Leon took it upon himself to get the chip, Aurora disposing of another ivy that got up as well. As she watched the bodies convulse, Aurora looked over in Leon’s direction.

“You got the chi- Oh My God,” her eyes widened. She turned to the giant windows of the viewing room above them and gasped. “Leon we gotta go now”

“Shit. Him again!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always found it weird that Leon said that he never trusted Ada.. I like to think that when she kissed him on the way to Nest, that tipped Leon off to the fact that she was manipulating him.


	16. G

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon and Aurora learn more about G

They didn’t waste any time as they heard the shattering of glass and the loud thud of the tyrants thundering footsteps stalking towards them. They managed to run right past the tyrant and into the control where they didn’t stop, running all the way back to the bridge, dodging through the plant filled hall with the plant creatures lunging at them and back to the bridge.

They rushed over the bridge to the machines on the middle platform. Leon pushed the button for the West Area bridge and it slid out. Aurora turned around to to keep a look out for the tyrant, but it didn’t seem to be following them anymore. Sighing in relief as the bridge connected, they didn’t waste time sticking around to find out.

Hopefully the G sample’s up here,” Leon said as they approached the door. Walking in they were met with a dark hallway that led to a small lab. In the hallway was another body of a gas-masked soldier lying on the floor, truly dead. At his feet amongst the pool of blood was another VHS tape and a grenade.

“Look,” Aurora exclaimed as she picked up the tape, “potential evidence” 

“How would we know without seeing it first?”

Looking around, Aurora found a VHS player. “Well look how convenient this is,”she smiled.The power was out, but lucky for them, there was another breaker and Aurora still had the modulator. Changing the setting to OSS, and fiddling with the dials until the frequency matched, she inserted the box and watched as the lights flickered on above them.

Looking around, the room was filled with more lab equipment, but the only thing that mattered was the TV and VCR. inserting the tape, Aurora and Leon stood back and watched as the screen flickered to life. The footage playing looked similar to the one they had seen in the sewers.

One of the soldier was recording up in a ceiling vent looking down on a man with blonde hair and a white lab coat, who appeared to be digging into something and pulling out tubes of liquid and putting them into a suitcase. 

**“Got eyes on the G-Virus,” the soldier said in a low voice. The screen flickered as he began getting into position.**

“This sounds Like what we heard on that recording,” Aurora stated

“ **We’re going in,” another voice radioed in. The solider in the vents watched as other soldiers ran into the room with guns aimed at the scientist. The soldier recording then jumped down into the room to join the others.**

**“Dr. Birkin, you’ll come along with us quietly.”**

**“You think I didn’t know you were coming?” the scientist, Dr. Birkin, retorted as he turned around and slowly slid a hand into his coat and held onto the suitcase for dear life. “This is my life’s work! I’m not handing over anything!”**

Aurora’s eyes widened briefly at the man. She looked over at Leon who was still staring intently at the recording and gave a inward sigh of relief.

**“We have our orders, Dr. Birkin,” the leader of the squad told him. “I’ll ask you one more time.” Dr. Birkin breathed in then quickly tried to pull out a handgun. Immediately one of the soldiers shot their gun before Birkin could even point.**

“Shit,” Leon muttered as he looked horrified by the scene of Birkin laying in a pool of his own blood, his body riddled with bullet holes.

“ **Stop! Hold your fire!” the leader shouted. Another soldier moved forward to check his pulse only to pull away with a shake of his head. The leader turned to soldier recording pissed. “What the fuck were you thinking!? Our orders were to bring him in alive!” He pulled away and held his ear as he radioed his boss. “We’re in, sir, but we had a snafu,” he said then turned still angry. “Target resisted, we had to take him out.” He paused. “That’s correct, sir.” Another pause. “Roger that. Just the sample then.” Another pause. “We haven’t found a single trace of Cillian Harris or his work.” Pause. “No sir.” Pause. “Roger, we’ll sweep the base one last time”**

**The man standing over Birkin crouched down and picked up the suitcase. “Let’s move!” The leader said before walking past the camera, the other men following. The camera stayed in Birkin for a while longer then the footage cut out.**

“So thats William huh,” Leon muttered

“You see what I mean when I say that the best course of action is to destroy the samples?” Aurora looked at him

“Still,” Leon shook his head, “this won’t prove that umbrella was behind the outbreak. There’s nothing that ties those samples to anything happening”

Aurora groaned. Leon was right in that the tape didn’t prove anything. If they wanted to find something that wasn’t the samples, it needed to be something with definitive ties that umbrella created the virus that created the monsters. Glancing around the room, Aurora looked down at a computer on a desk. Moving the mouse, the screen lit up to Dr. Birkin’s inbox. looked through Dr. Birkin’s inbox.

**Sender: Jane Doyle**

**Subject: Suspending Research on "G"**

**The Umbrella Corporation has decided to cease all research on "G," which was ongoing at the NEST underground laboratory. All funding for this project has been cut, and laboratory director William Birkin has been removed from his post.**

**Sender: B.E.**

**Subject: (None)**

**Thank you for your mail, Dr. Birkin. Top brass has expressed an interest in this "evolving bioweapon" you mentioned. Do not worry about costs. Our "company" is the most well-funded in the whole of the United States.**

**Sender: Richard Kessler**

**Subject: Congratulations**

**I heard the good news. "G" is almost ready. Strange you never thought to report to the research lab here at Umbrella HQ... but I suppose I can let that slide. Anyway, send over the data, would you?**

**And don't worry. You've done good work on "G," but we can take care of the rest.**

**Sender: Jane Doyle**

**Subject: Notice of Admonishment**

**You are under suspicion of breaching your contract with the Umbrella Corporation. It has become clear that you have claimed ownership of the "G" project, and have been in unauthorized contact with the U.S. military.**

**Please respond to the investigation committee's summons within 24 hours.**

“Nothing,” Aurora sighed as she stepped away from the computer, “though we can confirm that Annette was not the one who created the virus, and that William was the one who actually did it. Her involvement isn’t clear, but you can guess that she did help William with creating it”

“So what’s the verdict on the sample then?” Leon raised an eyebrow

“Well keeping it around does more harm than good, but if it’s the only thing that can be used against umbrella for what’s happening....” she trailed, “then I guess it’s the only way. For now at least”

The two left the room and walked through a small lab, and a hazmat room. When they walked through the decontamination chamber Aurora sighed in relief, the spray of the water taking away some of the grime on her body. Leon laughed and pulled her away as they came to the giant bioreactor room, rushing through the platform the came across a room with two pathways.

“Which way?”

“My dad always says that right is right.” Leon raised an eyebrow. “He was a scientist, not a poet”

The two headed to the right. The walked down a long hallway that was aligned withred glowing pistons that pulsed softly around their cores. In between those pistons were test tubes with what appeared to be lumps of flesh with eyeballs on them. They appeared to be alive in some sort of way, as the eyes would blink and look around. Aurora shivered and moved closer to Leon who tried his best to ignore everything.

“Just what were they trying to make in this place?”

At the end of the hallway they turned the corner and came across the familiar machine and a computer. Aurora walked up to the computer and read through the files.

**Embryo Growth Observations**

**(Subject 449)**

**After the G embryo was implanted in the subject, we made a 50cm incision from the chest to the abdomen and began our observations. With the help of the medical team, the subject's consciousness level was kept between 15 (lucid)~GCS 10. However, the subject's consciousness level deteriorated, and further observation was deemed unnecessary. The subject was then disposed off.**

**Breeding Rate Observations**

**(Subject 501)**

**The G-Virus was administered to subject 501. 501 mutated into G form and was introduced to a group of 30 test subjects. After 2 hours 36 minutes, it was observed that all but one of the test subjects had been implanted with an embryo. All subjects were disposed of.**

**(One subject broke down during experimentation and took their own life.)**

**T-Virus Resistance Experimentation**

**(Subjects 628, 639)**

**We administered G-Virus to subject 628, who had shown slight resistance to the T-Virus. The virus was then introduced to subject 639, with whom 628 had a close relationship. 628 showed some signs of resistance, but had been implanted with an embryo after 24 minutes. T-Virus resistance does nothing to stop the mental deterioration caused by the G-Virus.**

“My god,” Aurora gasped, “this shit is horrifying”

“What is?” Leon said, turning around to face her

“If you need any proof, this is definitely what you need”

Moving aside, Aurora let Leon read over the files.As he was doing so, Aurora looked around and found a small area that looked like it was used to gather the data. Looking around, Aurora found a USB. Checking what was on it, she smiled at the data. It was everything they would need.

**Attention, unauthorized removal of a [level 4] virus detected, facility lockdown initiated**

Looking up, Aurora found Leon pocketing the vial of G. Sighing, Aurora Pocketed the USB and walked out of the small area.

**The Self-destruct sequence will begin once lockdown is complete**

“Well thanks a lot Leon”

“I didn’t know the place would self-destruct. Besides we have what we need, this place destructing isn’t our problem”

“Newsflash Leon, we’re still in the facility. If it’s going on lock down, we’ll be trapped”

“Then let’s stop talking and get out of here before that happens”

They ran as fast as the could through the long hallway and back into the bioreactor room where they ran into Claire and Annette.

“Claire”

“Leon, Aurora”

The floor shook violently and the roof collapsed, raining metal and concrete a few yards away from the group. The crash shook the bridge and In front of them stood none other than William Birkin who transformed once again.

Leon and Claire quickly pulled out their guns. “You again.” Leon spoke gravely.

“No,” Annette stated as she limped in front of Leon and Claire, “He’s mine.” Pulling out a strange looking gun, she pulled the trigger. Leon, Aurora, and Claire watched as William was doused with some sort of acidic liquid that had William fall to his knees. “This has to end." Annette declared as she reloaded and limped towards Williams body. “I’m sorry William, but you left me with no choice.” Shooting it again, William fell to the ground defeated.

“What the hell is going on?” Leon demanded

“It shouldn’t have been like this. It’s Umbrella’s fault- this whole mess.”

“You’re Umbrella, too. You’re telling me you weren’t involved in this?”

Annette turned her head to glare at him. “Yes...But we never meant for this to happen.”

“Then tell me everything- right from the start.”

Annette sighed then began recanting on how she found William Birkin, somehow still alive after being shot down. Before she could stop him, he injected himself with the G-Virus, not only saving his life but also turning him into a monster reeking havoc among the facility and anything connected to it.

“So you made that monster?” Claire questioned.

“We made the G-Virus, but we never intended this to-.”

“You can spin it any way you want. You’re still responsible”

“That’s not how it works Leon,” Aurora said looking at him

“Then how does it work”

Before Aurora could say anything a claw shot forward grabbing Annette. It’s giant clawed armed lifted Annette’s frail body into the air, squeezing her body until you could hear bones shattering. Leon started shooting at the monster, who threw Annette’s body to the side. Aurora and Claire rushed towards her as Leon focused on the monster.

“He can’t get away,” Annette heaved as she gripped her stomach in pain.

“Worry about yourself and sherry for now,” Aurora said, “she still needs your help”

“But William, I don’t want my daughter living in a world where it exists, at least not like this”

Aurora looked over at Leon who was dodging Williams attacks. “Claire, get Annette to sherry”

“What?”

“Me and Leon will handle it. You need to help Sherry and get her out of here before the place self destructs”

“Are you sure?”

“No, not really” Aurora shook her head, “but that’s not important so just go”

Claire stared at Aurora for a second. She could see the fear in her eyes and contemplated switching roles. But the girl looked back, her eyes settled on Leon and Claire knew that Aurora wasn’t going to leave Leon behind.

“Okay,” Claire nodded. Belong Annette up, the two left through the door. Taking a deep breath, Aurora made her way to the button that would lower the platform and pressed it. Leon looked up at her in shock as red flashed through the room and the platform he was on lowered.

Aurora jumped down onto the platform, a new set of determination in her eyes as she shot a flame round into the back of the creature, catching s attention just as the platform leveled.

It was now a whole new creature from before, with two new arms added to its arsenal, as well as new armor and eyes that were grown in certain spots of the body. It also had a brand new move set. With two new and longer arms, the creature had more reach and strength to attack. They would have to pick up the monsters habits just to be quicker.

Williams attention was on Aurora now, his arms lashing out at aurora who had no choice but to back away from the claws. She didn’t want to turn and risk losing sight of it. In her haste, she tripped over her own feet. William loomed over her, the head of the once main barely visible through the giant shoulder.

Scrambling for her grande launcher, Aurora sighed in relief when the monster stumbled and turned. With her launcher in hand, Aurora releases a flame round onto Williams back.

“They eyes pop!” Leon shouted as he ducked through one of Williams attacks, “aim for the eyes!”

“Okay!” Aurora nodded.

As William was preoccupied with Leon, Aurora switched to her handgun. She needed to find where the eyes were, and a safe distance for her to actually aim at said spots. There was one on its thigh that aurora could get at easily.It took a couple of tries, but Aurora managed to shot the eye on the thigh out. Cheering, as the monster backed up away from Leon, Leon was able to shoot the eye on its shoulder.

The monster yelled and fell to its knees. It’s chest opened up to show a flurry of eyeballs. Looking at one another, Aurora and Leon nodded. Taking out her grenade launched, Aurora shot an acid round at the creature, while Leon switched to his magnum. Leon managed to empty his clip and Aurora to get two more shots with the acid round before the creature regenerated and got up.

With a game plan, Leon and Aurora dividing to shoot the eyes. Unfortunately, the creature had a new game plan as well and picked up one of the machines, only to launch it towards Leon, who jumped out of the way at the last second. The two couldn’t let that falter them.

Leon had Williams undivided attention, allowing for aurora to take out the eye on his upper shoulder blade. William stumbled, giving Leon enough time to shoot the other two eyes out with his shotgun. On his knees, Leon took out his magnum and emptied the clip in its chest, Aurora shooting the monster with acid rounds until it stood back up. This time, the eyes in the middle of its chest didn’t retreat back into its armour.

William screeched loudly. Takin a step back, it lunged towards Aurora. Aurora screeched in shock as she fell back away from the monsters claws, unfortunately, the other hands managed to grab her. Aurora screamed as she was lifted in the air much like Annette, her body being squeezed in the monsters hands.

“Aurora!” Leon shouted with wide eyes. Swearing, he quickly grabbed a flash grenade and threw it under williams feet, the sub weapon releasing a bright light that stunned the creature who released the girl in its grasp. Aurora grunted as she was dropped to the ground. Gasping for air, she scrambled to her knees and crawled over to Leon.

The creature regained its sight and walked forward to one of the many machines littered around. It grabbed a small console and turned just as Aurora reached Leon.

“Watch out!” Leon shouted as he pushed Aurora to the side, just out of the way of the console, which exploded on impact. William stomped towards them and swung. Leon reacted quickly, growing a grenade under the monsters feet. It exploded on impact stunning it. Aurora took the time to shoot the creature with an acid round.

The creature backed up and aurora quickly reloaded. It took three more shits with the acids rounds and 5 more shots with the magnum before William was defeated, the multiple eyeballs in its chest exploding as it fell to the ground.

“Holy shit,” Aurora leaned over to catch her breathe

“We did it”

“Don’t jinx it”

They both laughed. Looking around the floor, they found more handgun ammo, magnum ammo, and fuel for the flamethrower. With William down the automated voice announced that the power lift was now operational. Not wasting anymore time, the two made it to the lift. The place was still set to self destruct, and they needed to see if sherry was able to make it out okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was honestly struggling with this chapter because it was such a bad ass moment for Claire when she jumped down the platform ready to face off against William, as opposed to Leon kind of being forced into it by Annette and having no choice. I wanted Claire to be the one to fight third form William, because she didn’t fight the other two forms in this story and I wanted her to have her badass moment,
> 
> But because of the way this story goes and Claire’s character it makes more sense that Claire would want to save Sherry more than she would want to defeat William. And since Leon is around, Claire doesn’t have a reason to fight William. So it made a lot of sense, when I was overthinking and rationalizing in my head, why it should be Leon to fight this version of William while Claire would run to help Sherry. Because it seems to be in character for both of them.
> 
> That and the fact that no matter what, Claire ends up fighting the fourth transformation of William, so it’s not like Claire doesn’t get her fight with William at all.


	17. Annette and Sherry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annette saves Sherry and says goodbye.

Claire walked carefully as she helped an injured Annette make her way towards the security room where sherry lay. Hopefully they weren’t to late. As they hobbled to the security room a thought popped into Claire’s mind.

“Annette, just what was the G-Virus created for?”

“It was made to better the world,” Annette heaved, “it was to grant regenerative abilities”

“Regeneration?”

“Do you know how many people in the world need a limb or an organ? How many people have scars and burns. How many people have diseases and cancers”

“That virus could do all that?”

“It was supposed to,” Annette groaned in pain, “we were supposed to help”

“Then what happened? How did it end up turning William into that thing? And everyone else in the city”

“Umbrella”

Annette groaned loudly in pain and clutched her middle. Claire stopped, giving Annette a break to get herself together. She needed Annette to survive long enough to get to Sherry, if that meant preserving her strength, Claire wouldn’t say anything else for the sake of Annette. 

When Annette was ready, they continued.. it felt like hours before she and Annette made it to the security room. Claire’s insect was to run over to check on sherry, but she needed to get Annette to the tools she needed. She helped Annette with whatever she was doing, watching carefully to make sure that nothing happened.

With one final breath Annette collapsed against Sherry’s bedside. Claire panicked, then looked at sherry. The vain that was once over her eyes was now disappearing, and her pained moans and groans were starting to recede. Claire smiled as she watched sherry getting better.

After a couple of minutes Sherry opened her eyes. “Hey,” Claire softly as got to her knees, “I knew you’d make it”

“My mom,” Sherry said weakly as she looked down at her mother

“Annette” Claire’s placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder.

Annette popped up, her eyes frantically searching around until the landed on Sherry., her breath coming out short. “Sh... Sherry... How are you?”

Ok..” Sherry answered, “but you don’t look so good”

Getting up Annette rushed over to the monitor, but fell to the ground, clutching her middle she shouted in pain.

“Mommy!?” Sherry short up on the bed worried over her mother

Claire rushed over, helping Annette get to her feet as the woman pointed to the screen. Claire helped her up and brought her over to the monitor. Annette looked over it and sighed in relief. “Oh thank god”

“So Sherry’s going to be alright?”

“She’ll be weak for a little while but... yes, she’s free of the G-Virus”

“Did you hear that,” Claire smiled as she ruffled Sherry’s hair. Sherry laughed weakly and pushed Claire’s hand away.

“Where’s Aurora and Leon?”

“They’re coming, they said they’ll meet us once we get out of this place”

Annette watched the two, a weird feeling coming across her chest as her daughter talked fondly to Claire as she asked about the other two. The three of them were doing what they could for her daughter. Doing for her what Annette failed to do.

Searing white pain shit through Annette’s body. She fell to the ground clutching her middle. She knew she wasn’t going to last long.

“What happened to her!?” Sherry said rushing to her mothers side.

Claire paused as she followed behind, kneeling at Annette’s side next to sherry. “She was attacked by that monster—“

“Don’t...” Annette cure her off, “don’t worry about me.” Claire understood and watched silently as Annette reached into her lab coat pocket. “Take my daughter... to safety,” she dropped her wristband in Claire’s hand

“I will,” Claire nodded

“Sherry” Annette looked to her daughter. It was getting harder to breath and she wanted her daughter to hear what she had to say. “I’m so sorry sherry... for everything... you’re life is what is important now”

“We can’t just leave her!” Sherry panicked

“I know,” Claire said as she reached for annette, ready for carry her. Before she could the building started to shake. “That just be the building self destructing, we ave to hurry”

“You have to hurry,” Annette struggled to get out, “please.. save my daughter.”

“No!” Sherry shouted hugging her mother as she watched her take her last breath.

Claire felt for sherry as the young girl cried over her mother’s death, she really did, but they had no time to mourn over Annette. They needed to leave and they needed to leave now

“Sherry...” Claire placed a hand on her shoulder, “Sherry... we gotta say goodbye to your mom,” Claire looked up as the lights starting to flicker and the building shook even more violently. “Please Sherry listen, we really need to get out of here,” Claire urged as she stood up

Wiping her eyes, Sherry kissed her mother’s cheek and whispered goodbye. Grabbing Claire’s hand, she stood up and hugged her. “You’re right about this jacket, I’m so lucky to have you”

Claire smiled, “me too. Now let’s go. Leon and Aurora are going to be so happy to see you’re okay”

Nodding, the two left the security room. The building continued shaking as they rushed through the terminal and made their way towards the elevator. Claire could only wonder if aurora or Leon found a way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annette’s characterization is weird to me. Not only is the focus on her unwarranted because the virus was Williams creation, Her complete 180 about not wanting Sherry to live in a world where the G-virus exists doesn’t make sense to me and wasn’t built up properly for this to make any type of sense. Like, what did you think you were creating ma’am? Did you not know what the point of the g-virus was? Did you not know what your were helping to create? Did William not tell you anything? Just weird.
> 
> So, I changed that to be Annette wanted the G-virus to help people, But because the virus was Williams creation, it turned into something different she never expected it to be and wanted to right the wrong she helped create and also help her husband. Because seriously, what made her think that the virus was good from the start and that Sherry would benefit in a world where it exists.


	18. Jinxed It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya’ll hear about resident evil infinite darkness... I’m hyped. So hyped that I went ahead and updated earlier than expected.

**‘Self destruction sequence activated, please head to the central elevator to evacuate immediately to the bottom level train platform.’**

“I guess that’s the way out then,” Aurora said as she and Leon reached the top of the platform. Grabbing his hand, the two ran towards the main shaft, not wanting to waste anymore time. “God I hope Sherry and Claire heard that”

Just as they reached the giant room, they were surprised to see Ada hobbling across the North Area bridge towards the elevator. She took out some sort of gun and unlocked the elevator, getting the machine to call for it.

Aurora jogged over to the middle of the platform, sucking her teeth as she realized that they would have to wait however long for the elevator to arrive. Looking up, she realized Leon was lagging behind. She turned to see him merely walking, his eyes focused on Ada.

“I was just thinking about you,” he said loudly over the rumbling of the building. The ceiling was already crumbling and it felt like there were small explosions happening deep within the walls.

“That makes two of us. I was getting worried,” Ada responded, limping over to the bridge they were on. 

“Y’know we make a good team, but I gotta ask you something first.”

Aurora rolled her eyes at Leon’s dramatics. “Leon, we don’t have time for your dramatics, let’s just—“ Aurora was stopped by Leon raising a hand. She sighed in frustration but let him continue. Ada looked at them worriedly as she hobbled last Aurora, but keeping her eyes on Leon

“The way’s clear. Please, tell me you got it.”

“Oh, I got it.” 

“Let me verify the G sample and we’ll get the hell out of here,” Ada said while holding a hand out to Leon.

“Before we do that,” Leon stopped her, making Ada drop her hand, “we ran into Annette. She claims you’re not F.B.I.” 

“Oh, Leon…” Ada scoffed and shook her head before suddenly taking out her gun and aiming it at him. “Why couldn’t you just hand over the sample?”

“Because I realized, as much as I wanted to trust you…” Leon quickly pulled out his gun, “I didn’t.” Ada peered over from the corner of her eyes to find Auroraaiming her gun at her as well before focusing back on Leon.

“I really hoped it wouldn’t end up like this.”

“So that’s all this was...I wasjust some pawn to you?” he accused growing upset.

“Look, I’m just doing my job.”

“And I’m doing mine, so drop that damn gun! I’m taking you in.”

“Hand over the sample, Leon. I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“Hurt him and I’ll hurt you,” Aurora warned

The parts of the bridge behind Leon suddenly collapsed after another explosion in the building, leaving the Leon just on the edge of falling as he stumbled. Leon quickly got his bearings and then everyone was aiming guns at each other again. They all stood there for a solid second in silence before Leon dropped his gun and stood clear in front of Ada.

“Leon, what are you doing?” Aurora questioned as

“Then you shoot me,” he said ignoring Aurora, “but I don’t think you can.”

Aurora kept her gun up as long as Ada had hers still aimed. Ada stood there thinking, the gun trembling slightly in hesitation. Before she had the chance to decide, a gunshot rang through the air catching both Leon and Ada by surprise. Blood ran down Ada’s arm from a bullethole causing everyone to look over at Aurora.

“Sorry Leon, but I’m not like you and we’re wasting time” Aurora declared

Suddenly, an explosion below them shook the foundation they stood on. The bridge began to collapse more, the metal beneath their feet twisting onto its side causing Ada to lose her footing

“Ada!” Leon dove across the still connected panel and was able to grab Ada’s wrist before she could fall into the dark abyss below them.

“Leon what are you doing,” Aurora took a step forward, but the foundation only dipped lower at her weight

“Aurora don’t come any closer!” Leon ordered

“Leon you need to drop her or you’ll fall,” she panicked

Leon ignored her as he tried lifting Ada up. A clinking sound caught their attention as the G sample vial slid out of Leon’s vest, hit the panel then fell into the darkness. Aurora‘s gaze shifted from the elevator and back to Leon. It would be so easy to just leave. She would survive for sure and be on her way to her sisters wedding and most importantly, she would be alive.” She didn’t know Leon all that well. He’s not this emotional figure in her life. She could leave and he could die and she wouldn’t miss a thing. It would be so easy.

“Leon…” Ada tried to say but was cut off.

“Hold on...I think I can,” he grunted as he tried lifting her with his one good arm, but the panel beneath them began to break at the pressure.

Forget it,” she shook her head as she looked up at Leon.

“Shut up- I’ve got you!”

“It’s not worth it.”

“Don’t do this…” Leon pleaded. He tried pulling her up again, only for her wrist to slip slightly in his grip. Ada glanced down into the darkness before looking back up at Leon one last time.

“Take care of yourself, Leon,” Leon grunted trying to keep his hold. Ada’s wrist slipt from his grasp and she fell, disappearing into the abyss below.

“NO!”

Another explosion from the distance angered Aurora further. She mad her decision and she had to stick with it, so she began pulling at Leon’s leg to drag him away from the edge. “Leon! please! We have to go!”

He finally looked over at her and shook off the grief in order to get off the rapidly breaking bridge. Helping him up, she pulled him to safety and they had made it just in time for the rest of the bridge to collapse behind them.

**‘Ten minutes until detonation,’** the automated voice rang out over all the noise.

The two quickly made their way to the central elevator where the car had sat there waiting for them. They climbed in and watched as the doors slid close before the car began to slowly descend to wherever they needed to be. It was nerve-wracking at how slow it went, and the silence was awkward. Leon’s expression was getting Aurora annoyed.

“So you were in love with her?”

“Don’t start this now”

“Then stop being so dramatic! you knew her for what, an hour tops and during that entire time she was using you for nothing more than the Virus. Why are so sad!”

Leon said nothing else and leaned against the wall. Aurora rolled here yes and did the same. Perhaps it was to soon, perhaps she was too invested, but the way Leon was acting was bothering her more than it should. He needed to get over whatever it is he was feeling for a woman who was using him for a virus that could potentially destroy the world.

Peeking out of the elevator windows, they watched as they passed a giant mechanical machine that rotated fire and lightening. That must have been the facility’s core. It was scary and amazing at the same time, like something out of a sci-fi movie.

It felt like hours before they reached the bottom level. The doors slid open behind them and they made a mad dash out of the elevator. **‘9** **minutes until detonation,’** the automated voice chimed in. The room was composed of a plethora of monitors on the wall that were all out of commission except for one. on it was of a girl

“Who’s that?” Leon questioned as they ran over to the monitor. playing with a panel of controls the black and white static, cleared as an image of Claire up close began coming into view.

“Claire!” he called for her through the monitor, successfully grabbing her attention.

“I knew you two would be okay,” Claire smiled

“Not for long if we can’t find a way out”

“I found the way out,” Claire declared. “It’s close, just-“ the feed began to get interference. 

“Claire!? You still there?”

“Leon? Hey Leon, you’re breaking up…” The video cut.

“Leon, let’s go!” Auroraurged.

The two rushed out of the room and began running around the lower parts of the facility to find this train platform they had heard over the intercom. All they could do was follow whatever open pathways they find. Time was ticking and they didn’t have much time to go.

Explosions went off around them and after taking a short lift to another floor, they were met with more Ivys. Aurora shot each one with a flame round, her and Leon dodging out of the way of the flaming plants as they fell to the ground.

In the next room over, they climbed down a tall ladder and ran to make it to the next door when all of a sudden, the Tyrant appeared, falling from above and landing in front of them.

“Ugh...Is this a fucking joke?” Leon cried as they looped around the room, the tyrant following closely behind. They quickly made it past him and through the other door.

The next room was completely on fire, and as soon as they ran in, a pipe exploded from the side. But beside that, the path was still clear. They easily passed by a zombie that sky got to its feet, and through another door that led into a small hallway, into another room that was also on fire.

They were almost at the end at the door out of the room when suddenly another explosion went off in front of them, causing the way forward to be blocked by flames.Aurora cursed as they turned around to find a different way through. That’s when they came face to face with the tyrants standing in front of them.

It grabbed the both of them by their heads and lifted them into the air. It added pressure as they tried prying at the hands holding them up. An explosion went off right next to them, causing the tyrant to let go of their heads. The metal grated floor buckled beneath their weight and another explosion. The two stumbled as they held onto the railings as the floor tilted them downward. another explosion occurred causing the grate to fully break off and dropping the pair down into the room below them.

Aurora groaned in pain as her back hit the floor hard, the flamethrower on her back making the fall worse than what it would have been. “Shit,” she swore as she rolled over. looking up, her eyes widened as the catwalk above them broke and began tumbling down at her. Leon saw it and rolled over her, quickly pulling her out of the way and on top of him.

The metal panel slammed onto the floor where she just laid with a loud bang. They both looked at each other breathing heavily. “Thanks,” Aurora said breathlessly as she climbed off of him and onto her feet. Helping Leon onto his feet, He nodded as he looked around and noticed another door.

“Gotta keep going! C’mon!”

They quickly ran and found themselves at some sort of platform. It looked like it lowered down to somewhere, and down is where they needed to go. The only way to get it to work was with a pair of spark plugs that was sitting on a random table. They plugged it in and pulled the lever, watching as the platform began to move.

More explosions around them caught them off guard when they noticed weird thumping in the distance.

“What the hell?!” Leon looked around, watching as the building began to fall apart. A large metal tower fell from its place above them and smacked into a bridge. The wall it was connected to broke and out of the hole came the tyrant. Only, it was different. He looked bigger than usual and his right arm was on fire.

“Oh, shit…” Leon whispered as they watched it walk across the bridge to look down at them. Suddenly, another tower came flying down and hit the railing behind them, causing them to fly forward due to the momentum. The bridge above them took another hit and it crumbled down, the Tyrant coming down with it. It landed on their platform and looked at them full of rage. Its body had grown in size and its arm had mutated into a giant claw. The topcoat it was wearing before was now gone making him somehow more terrifying than ever.

“Holy shit”

“You know what we have to do right”

“Story of the night it seems”

“Alright, come on!” Leon said as he and Aurora pointed their guns at it.

The tyrant roared and began to stalk towards them. They began firing shots aiming for the head. Every few shots would stun it, but only for a second. It charged at them and pounced but the two dodged out of the way in time, leaving them on separate sides of the platform. Its claw pierced the floor where they once stood leaving a giant gash in the floor.

It stalked after Aurora who whose arms shook as the creatures got nearer so her shots missed the head and instead hit the flaming shoulder. “Fuck,” she whispered with a shaky voice as she ran out of bullets. “Shit!” It took a swipe at her, but she ducked around him before the hit could land. 

Concrete boulders fell down onto the platform, nearly missing them by inches and making the battle even harder to fight. They needed to be smart about how they moved, or else the tyrant wouldn’t be the one to end them.

Taking to using her grenade launcher, Leon also ran out of bullets and took to using his magnum. They were able to use the rocks to their advantage, ducking behind them whenever the tyrant rushed towards them with an attack to stop it. Theming s grenade at the tyrants feet leon stopped the tyrant from charging towards him.

Another explosion shook the foundation around them with more rock, metal, and fire exploding all over the place. Aurora was knocked back against the railing on the opposite side of the platform, but kept her footing. Leon, however, wasn’t so lucky as he stumbled back over a boulder onto the floor. The Tyrant wobbled on his feet for a moment before steadying itself and turning towards Leon.

With the last of her flame rounds, Aurora shot a flame round at the tyrant, effectively catching its attention. The tyrant turned towards her with a glare, and got ready to charge. The tyrant was fast. Faster than Aurora anticipated and it’s reach much further than anticipated, she tried dodging the attack, she did dodge the attack, but not unscathed.

Leon watched in horror as Aurora fell to the ground, blood on the ground for wherever the tyrant managed to hit. She wasn’t knocked out, but she was on her hands and knees and the tyrant was standing above her. He called out her name in desperation and aimed his magnum but to no avail. He was out of bullets.

Much to Leon’s luck, a giant box fell right into the middle of the platform from somewhere above them. The lid popped open revealing a rocket launcher with four rockets loaded. Rushing to it, Leon quickly placed the launcher onto his shoulder and aimed. He didn’t have any time to think as it lifted its giant claw to strike, Aurora’s eyes widened in horror.

His finger pulled the trigger with a click and the rocket was projected from the weapon. Both Leon and Aurora turned away before the blast, shielding themselves from the fire and smoke.as it hit the Tyrant with a loud explosion, the smoke billowing around itself. Aurora crawled away as Leon rushed to her side.

After a moment, the smoke dissipated and the two watched in relief as the Tyrant's lower body fell onto the ground in a gory mess of intestines and lack of an upper body.

“I swear to god, if we have to fight another goddamn thing”

“Don’t jinx it,” Leon joked

Aurora rolled her eyes, but laughed. She could feel a numb throbbing but it didn’t hurt and she rather not think about it lest it decided to start hurting.

Leon looked her over and his eyes widened at the long gash on the side of her face. It extended from her hairline all the way down to her jawline. It was long, and it also looked deep as well. If they didn’t do something about it, she would bleed out for sure.

“We need to do something about this fast,” Leon said as he looked in one of his pouches for first aid spray.

“It doesn’t even hurt, just look worse than it feels”

“It must be the adrenaline if a gash this big doesn’t hurt,” Leon winced as he found what he was looking for, “this is going to sting”

Aurora winced and clenched her eyes shut as Leon sprayed her face with the first aide spray. The spray wouldn’t do much but stop the bleeding for a while we’re was no clean the blood, and no bandage to cover it. She would have to walk around with an opened gash wound until they could find something. It was cold against her face and she wondered how Leon’s shoulder was doing. They were both screwed with their injuries.

Leon finished inspecting Aurora if anymore injuries just as the platform finally reached the bottom level. The automated voice system told them that they had 6 minutes left and the two ran. As they were approaching the door exit door, it busted open with a small horde of zombies stopping them in their tracks. Above them, the voice alarms blared that there was 5 minutes.

“Leon,” Aurora gestured to the small horde and stepped to the side. Smirking, Leon lifted rocket launcher and shot, clearing the way immediately. They took off through the exit just as the head of a train began to chug through. Another explosion around them caused part of the ceiling to come down, slowing them as the train was beginning to pick up speed.

“That’s our ride out! Let’s go!”

They ran alongside the train, running their fastest to stay with it while it was still slow enough. Leon was able to reach and grasp a car’s side railing. He was quickly able to pull himself up then reached out for Auroras hand.

An explosion occurred behind them, causing Aurora to jump up and grasp Leon’s hand and the railing, her feet almost dragging on the floor. Leons injured shoulder made it hard for him to pull her up, but with all the strength he could muster, he was able to haul her up onto the car with a loud grunt. 

He dragged her onto the floor next to him. The both of them breathing heavily as they leaned against the cable car. 

“We did it” Aurora said breathlessly with a smile, “we actually did it”

“We did,” Leon smiled as he tried to catch his breath

The two high fived, the action making Leon wince. Aurora couldn’t help but laugh. They’ve been through so much and Leon hasn’t shown an ounce of pain until a high five. It shouldn’t be a laughing matter, but Aurora couldn’t help herself as he clutched his shoulder with a pained look on his face.

“I’m glad my pain is funny to you”

“Sorry,” Aurora apologized as he laughing slowly stopped. “It’s not funny at all, it’s just that the first time you showed any ounce of pain was when we high fived”

Leon rolled his eyes with a smile. Looking back, He watched as the room they were just in explode into flames. The train entered a tunnel and for once, they felt safe. No zombies, no tyrants, no G. Reaching behind him, he pulled out the I.D. wristband from NEST given to him by Ada. He looked at it sadly for a moment before tossing it out onto the track letting the wind take it. Standing up, he looked down at Aurora

“Are you mad at me?” She said looking up at him

“We should go check the train.” 

Aurora looked at Leon and nodded. Standing up, the two carefully walked up to the first car of the train. The doors slid open as they hurriedly walked in to find Claire and Sherry.

“Claire! Sherry!” Aurora beamed as she walked up the the two

“Hey. We made it,” Leon declared tiredly as he slowly made his way towards them behind Aurora 

“Just like I said we would,” Claire grinned. She then looked to aurora and gasped at the gash on her face. She gripped Aurora’s face gently and leaned closer to get a better look at it. Aurora fussed, but Claire wouldn’t let up.

Leon rolled his eyes at the two when his gaze went to the little blonde girl and smiled. Kneeling down he raised his hand. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve formally met, but I’m leon S Kennedy”

“Sherry Birkin,” the girl smiled shyly as she took his hand. before Leon could say anything else the train jerked suddenly, causing everyone to stumble.

“Jesus!”

“What was that?!” Claire questioned as she gazed at the doors.

“I don’t know.”

Falling to the ground, Aurora groaned loudly. “This is hell. I must have died and went to hell. This day:is never going to end!”

“You two stay with Sherry. I’m gonna go check it out,” Leon ordered

“No way am I letting you go alone,” Claire stated, “I’ll go with you, Aurora, you stay with Sherry”

“You won’t get any complaints from me”

Looking at one another, Leon and Claire nodded and left the cart. Aurora sighed and rested her head against the wall. She really needed a mirror. She wanted to see just how bad her face looked. She can see Adora now, berating her for ruining the wedding pictures.

“Does it hurt?” Sherry’s voice snapped aurora out of her thoughts, “your face I mean”

“Not really,” Aurora shrugged, “never mind me though, how are you holding up? You’ve had one hell of a night”

“I’m okay,” Sherry shrugged, “or, I will be okay. I have Claire, you, and Leon with me after all”

Aurora laughed. “You’re a brave girl”

“What’s going to happen now? Will I get to stay with one of you once we get out of here?”

“I wonder that,” Aurora furrowed her eyebrows, “Claire is still looking for her brother, I’m going back to school soon, and Leon... I don’t know what he’s going to do. Do you have any other family?”

“No,” Sherry shook her head

“Well, I’m pretty sure I can find something. My mom will be more than happy to take another kid in”

“Really!”

“Yeah, she’s feeling her age now that Adonis is about to be a senior in high school. You’ll love her, she’ll teach you so much stuff. You’ll go hiking, and fishing and swimming, and she’ll teach you how to defend yourself.”

“She sounds so cool”

“She is,” Aurora smiled. She thought back to her family. She hoped and prayed they got out of the city all right. If she experienced all that she did in one night, she wondered what it was like once it all started, and if that tyrant was involved in killing people.

The train lurched violently, shocking Aurora and Sherry as they could hear gunshots going off. Grabbing Sherry’s hand, Aurora ran towards the carts and found both Claire and Leon fighting against a blob of teeth and tentacles with an eyeball straight in the middle

“What the hell is that thing?!”

“What do you think!” Leon shouted back

The monster broke the ceiling of its car explosively causing Claire and Leon to lose their footing. Aurora and Sherry they was flung against the floor and began trying to get back up.

“Aurora!” Claire caught her attention, “We gotta lose that car!”

Looking down, Aurora began pulling back the metal grating on the cart revealing the key to separating the car from theirs. Grabbing ahold of the railing, she kicked down repeatedly on the bar as hard as she could

“C’mon!” She grunted before finally the lever worked causing a small rift to begin between the two cars.

Looking up, she watched as Leon handed Claire a long pole and the clambered onto her knees as the giant horned eyeball was looming over her. She pulled back then stabbed the thing, twisting the pole and pushing it in deeper causing a waterfall of puss to spill out. “You like that! Ugh!” Claire shouted at it, before twisting one last time. “Goodbye fucker!” She wrenched the pole out, stumbling backward as it screamed in pain.

Leon scramble over to Aurora and Sherry. Aurora helped him onto the cart as he leaned forward to reach his arm to Claire. “Give me your hand!” He called to her. Claire took it eagerly and with a grunt, she stumbled onto their car safely.

The four of them watched intensely as the monster formerly known as William Birkin fell into the fiery explosion behind him, hopefully ending his life once and for all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So one more chapter to go, and then an epilogue.


	19. Where do we go from here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping raccoon city the group looks for shelter and plan ahead.

With a gun raised, Leon carefully opened the train door and peeked outside. After deeming it safe, the four climbed out of the car and began walking. It was morning, the sun was shining and they reveled in its heat. The long desert road splayed out across the horizon with mountains sprayed out in the background.

They decided to begin the long trek across the desert to safety. There were no monsters around, no zombies, no bioweapons, nothing. Just desert. Bodies were a little worse for wear and exhaustion weighed heavily on their minds as Aurora stretched her body.

“So...are you guys, like boyfriend and girlfriend?” Sherry suddenly asked from between Claire and Leon while looking over at Aurora and Leon. They both were surprised by her question, the inquiry coming out of nowhere in their silence. Aurora and Leon stopped and looked at each other, Claire and sherry doing the same to look at them.

“No, we’re just uh..” Aurora paused, she didn’t really know how to answer that

“We actually just met last night,” Leon finished her sentence

“That would have been one helluva first date,” Claire joked

“If that was the first date, I would be running to marry this guy right now”

“Really?” Leon raised an eyebrow

“Look!” Sherry pointed down the road. They all turned to see a semi-truck heading towards them. “He might be able to give us a ride.”

Leon and Claire looked at each other with serious expression. Walking a few inches away from sherry, Claire leaned in close to Leon to whisper. “What if it’s not just the city?” Claire questioned worriedly.

Leon nodded the three of them over to the side of the road. “Get them outta here.” Claire waved the other two to follow her to a spot off of the road while Leon waited on the side. His hand rested on his gun as the truck got closer. However, as the semi-truck passed them, they were met with loud honking and a middle finger out the window.

They all watched as the truck drove off in the other direction. “Well, he was friendly,” Leon scoffed before looking over at the others. They jogged over and followed his gaze towards where the truck disappeared. 

“So...is it over?” Aurora asked, careful not to exclaim anything lest she jinxed them again

“I don’t know. But if it’s not, we’ll stop it. Whatever it takes.”

“Yeah. You’re damn right we will!” Claire added boldly.

“Speak for yourselves. I don’t want to do this shit ever again”

Leon turned to look at his companions and set his eyes on Aurora who was fixing her hair. “Long as we stick together, we’ll be fine. Come on,” he nodded her over to his other side then held out his hand to Sherry. The young girl gave a toothy smile and stood between him and Claire, taking both of their hands on either side.

“Hey! You guys can adopt me,” Sherry suggested, swinging their arms happily. Aurora busted out laughing as Claire and Leon chuckled awkwardly

“Sherry I thought we talked about this?” Aurora said

“I know, but I’ve never had two moms and a dad before! Oh! We can get a puppy!” 

“A puppy…”

“And a parrot!”

“Parrot? Great…”

“I always wanted pets but my mom said they’re too messy.”

“Hmm...Yeah…” 

“Oh, and it would be fun to learn piano. Do you guys play any instruments?”

“Sherry,” Claire laughed

“Oh, and your sisters wedding. When is that? I’m going to need a dress for it so we’re going to have to go shopping”

“Before we do any of that, we need to shower first”

“I think we have to do more than just shower,” Leon chimed

“Leon, we are wet, sticky, injured, and we smell like shit, a shower is the only thing we have to do”

She’s got a point,” Claire said

It felt like they were walking for day’s along the dirt road. As Aurora held sherry on her back, Claire failed to pin down yet another car that passed them on the road. Looking up in the sky, it looked like it was going to rain again, and with no shelter and no signs of civilization, Aurora didn’t want to be stuck in a downpour.

“Next time we see a car, let me try,” Aurora said

“Go for it”

Thunder rumbled loudly in the sky, and Leon swore. It was going to rain soon and they were no where close to civilization. Fortunately it didn’t take too long before another car showed in the distance. Aurora smirked and kneeled down so sherry could climb off of her back. She had a foolproof plan that would guarantee that they would get that ride.

Aurora waited as the car was close enough to decipher. It looked like a pickup truck. That was good enough to fit them.

“Claire, cover Sherry’s eyes”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want her to see this”

Claire did as she was asked, and she and Leon watched in curiosity at what it is Aurora planned on doing. As the car got closer Aurora lifted up her top, her bra going up along with it. Leon and Claire’s eyes widened and their jaws dropped as they watched Aurora flash and the car come to a stop.

Pulling her shirt down, Aurora gave her best smile as she walked up to the car. It was an older looking man, and he looked her over, his eyes lingering on the blood and scar covering the side of her face.

“Thanks for stopping, you wouldn’t believe the hell I went through last night. It would be greatly appreciated if you could take me and my friends to the nearest motel”

“I don’t know,” the man said wearily. Aurora couldn’t blame him, they didn’t exactly look like the most innocent of stragglers

“Please,” Aurora sighed in desperation, “we have been through the worst night imaginable. We’re hurt, we stink, we’re tired, and we have a little girl with us.” She looked back at sherry who’s eyes were still being covered by Claire, “Can you please, please, please give us a ride to the next gas station or motel”

“I don’t know”

“Please, i’ll do anything”

“Anything?” The man raised an eyebrow

“Yes,” Aurora pleaded, “anything you want”

The man hesitated for a bit before swearing, “alright,”

“Thank you so much”

Leon and Claire watched in shock as Aurora turned to them with a smile and waves them over. The man in the car looks them over as well, his gaze lingering on the various weapons that they Acquired as well as their state of being. It didn’t help that they all smelt like shit from the sewers.

The ride was quiet and awkward but it allowed for the group to rest. Sherry, Aurora, and Claire all managed to fall asleep while Leon stayed awake and alert. He noticed the man watching them through the corner of his eyes, his gaze lingering on their weapons. He must have been concerned they were going to rob him at some point. He wouldn’t blame him, it’s good to be cautious.

The ride took longer than expected. Claire woke up along the ride, and woke Sherry up so the girl wouldn’t stay up during the night. It was noon by th he time the group made it to a motel. There was a diner across the street as well as a gas station. It was the perfect spot for them.

Claire got out first and helped sherry out of the car. Aurora followed suit with Leon behind her. The man shouted at Aurora who turned to him with a smile and a wave. “Thank you sir, we all greatly appreciate your help.” The man cussed and drove away. Turning around, Aurora laughed as Claire and Leon shook their heads at her antics.

“Bravo,” Claire clapped, “that really was something”

“That’s the art of finessing. Leon would know all about that”

Leon rolled his eyes and led the group to the motel. As they reached the reception desk, the woman behind it looked them up in down in distaste, her eyes lingering on their weapons and Aurora’s face.

“Can I help you”

“Yeah, how much is it to rent a room?”

“1 room with 1 bed is 70 a night, while 1 room and 2 beds is 90”

“Thank you,” Claire smiled as she turned to her companions. “So, what are we doing”

“1 room, two beds,” Leon said, “we should all stay together”

“I agree,” Sherry said enthusiastically, “it can be like a sleepover”

“Okay,” Claire nodded. Digging into her leather jacket, she pulled out her wallet. Through all the commotion, she didn’t lose her wallet. It was a weird ass miracle that she didn’t.

“Do you guys have a washer and dryer we can use?” Aurora asked, “or just one around here in general?”

The receptionist nodded and gave them directions to the laundromat just next door attached to the motel. After Claire paid and got the key, the group made their way to their room. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The room was a decent enough size to fit them, though a bit cramped. The carpet was an ugly shade of red, but didn’t seem to have any stains on it. The bed sheets smelled fresh, and there was a small tv on the dresser and a phone on the bedside table.

“I call first shower,” Claire declared as she, Leon, and Aurora stripped themselves of all their weapons

“Damnit,” Aurora groaned

“What about our clothes?” Sherry questioned

“We can split,” Leon said, “Sherry and Claire can take the first two showers, while me and Aurora will go out and get some supplies and wash the clothes, then we switch off”

“That works,” Claire nodded, “we need shampoo, conditioner soap, lotion, a comb, a brush, deodorant, toothpaste and four toothbrushes”

“Got it,” Leon nodded

“Can we eat after?” Sherry asked

“We are definitely going to eat after we get cleaned,” Aurora said

Leon left to the store as Sherry and Claire stripped bare and wrapped themselves in the complimentary towels they got from the front desk. With their clothes in hand, Aurora headed to the laundromat. There were a couple of truckers there washing their clothes as soft music played from the speakers. It was scary how normal it all was.

Placing the clothes in the washing machine, she realized that there was no detergent or fabric softener. Going back to the front desk, Aurora paid $5 for small packets of detergent and fabric softener and sat down in one of the many chairs as Claire and Sherry’s clothes washed.

Leon came in a couple of minutes later. Spotting Aurora he walked over to her. The first thing she noticed was the alcohol wipes and knew it was for her bloodied face. It’s a wonder no one reported her or called the police. Never mind the fact that they all were dirty with heavy artillery and a little girl in tow. The act of minding ones business sure was powerful.

“Come on, let’s get that face cleaned up,” he gestured towards the laundromat bathroom. Getting up, Aurora followed him. As expected, he bathroom was small and smelled like shit. It wasn’t any worse than how they smelled, or the smell of the sewers, but it still stunk non the less. Aurora settled herself onto the sink and Leon situated himself between her legs.

Softly, Leon placed a hand in Aurora’s untouched cheek and turned her face to get a better look at her wound. “You’re going to need stitches”

“Figured, I hope it doesn’t scar”

“Is it starting to hurt”

“Not really,” Aurora shrugged, “I can feel it throbbing and there’s a pinch here and there, but otherwise it’s bearable”

“That’s good”

Grabbing the alcohol wipes, Leon got to work with cleaning Aurora’s face and wound. She winced whenever the wipe made contact with area. When it wasn’t touched it didn’t hurt, but the touch was making it hurt. Aurora bit her lip to stop from screaming as Leon tried his best to be as gentle as possible with her.

It took 5 wipes to clean the blood and the wound as a couple fo tears managed to escape Aurora’s eyes from the pain. “All done,” Leon whispered as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. “But now I have to put the cream on”

“Be gentle”

“I will”

Aurora held on to the sink tightly as Leon applied he ointment to her face. She wondered how her shower would affect it, but it was better to get it over with now lest it get infected. Once Leon was done, he washed his hands and bandaged her face. It was a surprise that no one knocked on the door during their time in the bathroom. It must have been about 45 minutes.

After she was tended too, Aurora went to check on the clothes. By the time she got back, the machine beeped signaling that the wash was done. Taking the clothes out, she placed them in the dryer and sat down to wait. Leon sat beside her.

“How’s your shoulder”

“It’s been better”

Aurora felt weird. It was weird between them. She knew why, but she didn’t understand why it felt like she and Leon were friends for years and this one incident out a damper on their friendship. She didn’t understand it.

“Why did you do it?” Leon said

“Because we were on a timer and you were being dramatic,” it wasn’t a lie exactly. They were on a countdown and didn’t have any time to waste.

“Don’t play me like a fool Aurora!” Leon turned to glare at her

Aurora’s head snapped up in shock at Leon’s outburst. Her shock then turned into anger. Narrowing her eyes, she sucked her teeth and her companion. “First, I’m not lying. We were literally in a timer and couldn’t waste time. And two, I’m not you Leon, I’m not going to give people chances to take a deadly ass virus in order to give it to their employer for whatever reason that can very well result in another raccoon city incident. She’s better off dead”

“She didn’t shoot me Aurora. She wasn’t going to”

“And?” Aurora shrugged, “do you think she would have left that facility empty handed? That she was going to give up her mission for you?”

“She had the oppertunity to do just that and didn’t take it”

“Yeah, because I stopped her from doing it. Don’t argue that she wasn’t going to do it, we don’t know that, and thus you can’t say for sure if it was true or not..” she rolled her eyes, “and then, you were so harsh on Annette, but gave Ada a pass despite her betrayal,” she scoffed

“I didn’t give Ada a pass”

“Oh sure you didn’t,” Aurora rolled her eyes

“Annette was the one who created the virus in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened if that virus never existed, it’s two different things”

“But we know that Annette didn’t spread it. We know it was an accident, and we know Annette didn’t want what happened tonight to happen. The difference with Ada, is that she seen what this virus does and didn’t care and would have stole it no problem and given it to whoever hired her if  _** I ** _ ” she gestured wildly to herself for emphasize, “didn’t stop her”

Leon got up and left the laundromat ending their conversation. Why was it that they were constantly arguing over Ada. It was like they were on their way to something before she showed up and messed it all up. If those trashy romance novels taught her anything, it was that Leon was having an affair...Shaking her head of that thought, Aurora knew that he would get over it eventually.

It wasn’t long before the clothes were dry and Aurora haphazardly folded them and brought them over to Sherry and Claire.

“Clothes are ready!” Aurora said, knocking on the door. Claire reached out and grabbed them and Aurora took a seat by the door to wait. She wanted to get in the shower as quickly as possible. It didn’t take long for Sherry and Claire to open the door fully dressed and fresh.

“That felt good,” Claire cheered

”my turn now”

Aurora quickly rushed into the room, stripping herself bare and wrapping a towel around herself. Looking at her reflection she winced. The bandage Leon administered covered the entire half of her face. Her hair was a tangled mess and covered in filthy water and clumps of stuff Aurora doesn’t want to know. Her skin was pale and covered in dirt and grime and bruises, and her eyeshadow smudged around her eyes, making her seem crazy... it was a wonder how anyone could find her sexually attractive in this state.

After carefully washing the other side of her face, Aurora brushed her teeth. Her mood was already lifting from the dirt being washed away from her body. Sighing in contentment, Aurora stepped into the shower and moaned in pleasure.

From the room, Leon chuckled. Taking off his last remaining article of clothing, he opened the door and handed the pile to Claire. Left only in a towel, Leon sat down on one of the beds and turned on the TV and turned to the news. He wanted to know if there would be any reports on raccoon city and what happened there.

* * *

“Sorry I took so long,” Aurora apologized as she stepped out of the bathroom, “I had to figure out how to wash my hair without getting the bandage wet”

“No problem,” Leon said as he turned off the TV, “i was just watching the news. There’s been no reports regarding raccoon city”

“Figures,” Aurora rolled her eyes, “The government is probably trying to hide it to not cause a panic”

“You think it spread anywhere else?”

“I hope not”

Standing up Leon made his way to the shower. As he passed, Aurora smirked and made a point to obviously look him over. He had abs, and Aurora was a slut for a man with abs. Leon chuckled at her obvious staring, snapping Aurora out of her gaze. Winking, Leon closed the door in Aurora’s face and the sound of the shower turned on. He got over it.. and it was still weird.

Shaking her head, Aurora walked over to the bedside table and picked up the phone. Calling a number she memorized, her heart beat wildly as her call went through. “Please pick up,” she chanted as the phone rang and rang and rang.

“Hello”

Aurora was silent for a full minute, the sound of her mother’s voice shocking and relieving. “Mom,” Aurora’s voice cracked, “mom”

“Aurora?”

“Mom,” the tears started to spill, “you’re alive”

“I am,” she could hear her mother’s voice crack on the other side

“What about Adora, Amira, Anaya and Achilles?”

“They’re okay, they’re with me”

Aurora started sobbing. Her family was alive and well. They were able to get out of the city.

“Aurora, tell me you didn’t go into the city”

“I did,” she sniffled, “Mom, it was terrible. The dead was trying to eat us, and there were mutated monsters, and tyrants.. mom”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” her mother cooed, “you’re safe now right?”

“Yeah,” Aurora took a deep breath, “I’m safe.” Aurora took a minute to calm herself. In the background she could hear various voices and her mother answering them. She heard her name, and then shuffling of the phone. Aurora chuckled.

“Aurora,” That was her father, “thank god you’re okay”

“Dad?”

“Listen, where are you?”

“I’m at a motel, it’s called, umm..” looking around, she spotted one for the business cards, “the restless inn”

“Is there anyone else with you?”

“Yeah, there’s 3 others with me”

“Stay where you are, I’m going to get you and everyone else?”

“Dad, whats going on? What happened?”

“I’ll tell you when I get you. Do not move and do not let anyone leave. In the meantime your mother wants the phone back”

Aurora’s mother was back on the phone, but she was on speaker with all of her siblings. Her mother told her that their father evacuated them right before the city got as bad as it did, but that she seen people being eaten and the terror among the street. She was told that they were taken to a government facility where their phones were taken and they couldn’t get in contact with anyone in fear that they would tell people of the incident. Aurora scoffed and said that it didn’t stop anyone from gettin into raccoon city and her mother agreed that it was a stupid move.

A Knock if the door caught Aurora’s attention and she excused herself from her family, answering the door Claire handed her a folded pile of clothes.

“Me and Sherry are headed to the diner across the street, want anything?”

“Leon should be done soon, just order us something simple and we’ll be there. I have good news”

“That’s something we needed to hear today”

“It is,” Aurora smiled

After closing the door, she said goodbye to her mother and siblings and started getting dressed. Just as she put on her bra, Leon walked into the room. Upon seeing Aurora in her bra, he quickly turned around and walked back into the bathroom, apologizing through the door. Laughing, Aurora stood up with Leon’s clothes in hand, and handed them over to him along with the lotion and deodorant.

“I wanted to ask if you could patch my shoulder for me”

“Sure, do you want me to put on a shirt first? Or put on pants first?”

“You know,” Leon opened the door, “does it really matter”

“Not to me”

Stepping aside, Leon let Aurora into the bathroom where the medical supplies were laid along the toilet seat. Because Leon was a couple inches taller, Aurora sat herself agains the sink with Leon between her legs as she got to work with rewearing his wounded shoulder. It looked better than before, but the bullet was still in his body.

“How’s your shoulder”

“Miraculously fine”

“I don’t know how you do it Leon,” Aurora chuckled. She was hyper aware of their closeness and wondered if Leon was aware of it as well. “You know, you really are something else Leon”

“Oh,” Leon raised an eyebrow, “and what brought this on?”

“This gunshot wound. Still can’t believe you took a bullet for ada”

“Let’s not start this again”

“I wasn’t,” Aurora rolled her eyes, “but seeing this just made me think about how passionate you are, especially towards people you don’t even know.. why is that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your passion. How you was so insistent on saving Marvin esoteric him obviously dying. Why you dedicate yourself into protecting me. Into believing Ada Into taking down umbrella. You didn’t have to do any of this but you did.”

“Because it’s the right thing to do”

“And how do you know that?”

“Well... you didn’t betray me did you?”

Aurora smiled an playfully rolled her eyes. He was a sweet talker he was. “So because something good came out of it, to you, it was all worth it in the end”

“Pretty much, yeah”

“Where did you get that philosophy from?”

“My parents”

They talked a bit about Leon, Aurora wanting to know about his parents and his penchant for seeing the good in everything. His mom was a sickly woman and his dad worked extremely hard for the both of them. He was poor, and there were times when Leon went without food for the night, but it was worth it for the sake of his parents. Leon didn’t grow up in the best of situation, but he grew up loved by both of his parents.

“Claire and Sherry are over at the diner across the street, I told them to order for us,” she said as she finished wrapping his shoulder.

“Order what?”

“I don’t know the menu, but it’s a diner so you know there will be burgers, so probably that”

“Good point”

“I’m about to head over there once I get dressed, meet us there, I have good news for us”

“Alright, I’ll be out in a few minutes”

Nodding, Aurora left the bathroom to continue getting dressed. There wasn’t much to do with her hair other than to throw it up in a messy bun. It was still a little damp from the shower, but there was no moisturizer so the water was good enough. Telling Leon she was leaving, Aurora left to meet with sherry and Claire at the diner across the street.

The diner was fairly empty, making it easy to spot Claire and Sherry. It was no surprise that Sherry stuck close to Claire as Aurora settled herself in the small booth. There was no food on the table yet, as sherry was preoccupied with a small coloring sheet and crayons.

“No food yet?”

“We just ordered”

“Okay good, Leon shouldn’t take long”

“It feels like I haven’t eaten in years,” Claire said as she watched the waitress pass by with someone else’s food,” it’s weird how long one night actually felt”

“No kidding, I feel like the only human interaction I’ve head in years is you, Leon and Sherry”

“What a night”

The two girls talked a bit about nothing before their food showed up. Claire ordered a burger and friend for Aurora, Leon and herself with a side of fries, while Sherry was happy with her perfect grilled cheese with onion rings. On the side Claire asked for any extra add ons to be out to the side.

While Aurora was building her burger, Leon appeared. Sitting next to Aurora he looked over his food and also started building his burger.

“So now that Leon is here, I can tell you all the good news,” Aurora said as she placed some onions on top of the ketchup she poured. “We are getting picked up”

“By who,” Claire raised an eyebrow

“My dad”

“And whose your dad? Does he know what happened?”

“The thing is, is that my dad works for the government. I don’t know what he does, but he’s high enough where he was able to evacuate my mother and siblings from the city, so he definitely knew what happened”

After placing the bacon and the tomatoes, Aurora grabbed the packet of mayonnaise and opened it.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Claire asked, “I mean, being picked up by the government?”

“What do you mean? Why would it be a bad thing?” Leon raised an eyebrow as he wiped his hands from the tomatoes juice

“I don’t know,” Claire shrugged, “it just feels....” she trailed, “off somehow. Like what’s going to happen to us once they come. Are we going to be detained?”

“I mean, considering all that we’ve been through, it would make sense that they would want to check us out and get information about what happened,” Aurora said

“That’s true, but I can’t be detained. I still have to look for my brother”

“Your brother isn’t going anywhere. You can continue your search after you get checked out, and after you have some money and resources, and after you get a lead. It won’t do you any good to leave now in your state”

“She’s right,” Leon started, “rest and rethink your strategy. Going in blind will only kill you”

“Yeah,” Claire sighed, “you’re right”

The small group ate their food and Sherry lead the conversation forward. She asked about Claire’s brother Chris, and then asked Aurora about her siblings, and then asked Leon if he had any siblings, to which he revealed that he was part of the only child club with Sherry.

It was a picture out of a happy ending. The group laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. Sherry and Aurora happily slurped on a chocolate milkshake after they finished their meals, while Claire and Leon opted for an alcoholic beverage. They were happy. They were content. They were alive. It didn’t matter what would happen to them after, all that mattered was the brief time they were safe and happy.

The sound of a helicopter from the distance broke the peace that the group was able to achieve. Looking at one another, they rushed out of the diner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way I wanted Aurora and Leon’s relationship to come across, is that there is an obvious bond and a connection between the two that they’re aware about, but they are both also acutely aware that they just met and don’t know much about each other. So while there’s something there, it’s still developing. I didn’t want them to fall in love immediately.


	20. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They all go their seperate ways

They were separated almost immediately after they arrived and stripped bare to be decontaminated. They were looked after intensively for any signs of infection or weird behavior. They were constantly given physical and mental examinations, that was followed up with blood tests, dna tests, and MRI scans. They couldn’t talk to anyone, they couldn’t see anyone, and nobody answered their questions. It wasn’t until 2 weeks later, that they were able to speak to someone.

“I hope the we weren’t being to harsh on you my girl,” Cillian Harris smiled across the table at Aurora. The girl just glared making Cillian laugh. “I know it may seem extreme, but we had to be cautious considering what happened in raccoon city”

“I’m not mad at that”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Tell me what you was working on when you worked for umbrella”

“what do you mean?”

“I mean, that it can’t be a coincidence that months before this all happened, you quit umbrella. Or that your name is closely linked with William birkin when it comes to the G-virus. Or that you were also supposed to be gunned down the same night he was”

The smile fell from Cillian face. It was a blessing and a curse to have a perceptive child. He couldn’t blame anyone but himself for that, it’s what he wanted for her, for all his children.

“That doesn’t concern you Aurora”

“Bullshit, I almost died because of whatever you and him were doing”

“That was an isolated accident, the virus was never meant to get out the way it did”

“I don’t care what the plans were, at the end of the day, it got out, and I got stuck in the middle.”

“Aurora,” Cillian sighed. “The G-Virus was not my project, it was birkin’s project. Of course what I was doing was also important, but it had nothing to do with what happened in raccoon city”

Aurora sat back in her chair and stared at her father. She didn’t know what to believe. She wanted to believe her father was incapable of creating something so incredibly dangerous, but the fact that this was something umbrella did was making her suspicious of what exactly he was doing.

“How can I believe you?”

“I don’t know, that’s up to you,” Cillian shrugged, “but I would like to think that my daughter would know me better than to assume I would be the cause of a bioengineered weapon”

“Don’t turn this around on me,” Aurora rolled her eyes.

Cillian laughed and sat back in his own seat. “Well, I’m glad you’re safe, but I have a couple of questions concerning your night”

“Alright, go ahead”

“You’ve seen what the virus’s can do. When you shoot a zombie what happens? When you dismember one, what happens?”

“Nothing, the zombie isn’t phased by it and they keep moving. But they can be killed if you stab them in the brain”

“With the G, what was something you noticed when it came to William?”

“His transformations”

“What about his transformations?”

“I don’t know,” Aurora shrugged, “they kept getting monstrous and he got more eyeballs. I don’t know”

“Did he exhibit any type of unnatural abilities?”

“You mean besides regenerating and being a bullet and grenade sponge?”

”yes”

“I mean, he infected Sherry,” Aurora said absentmindedly, her eyes widening at what she said, “But she was cured by Annette almost immediately so she’s fine,” she said quickly

Cillian hummed and wrote in his notebook. This was something unforeseen. The virus was never meant to reproduce by itself.

“Tell me, where there anything else infecting others?”

* * *

It’s good to see you looking refreshed Mr. Kennedy,” Cillian Harris smiled at the man sitting across from him. Leon said nothing but stared hard at the man in front of him. His smile was obviously fake but the man didn’t seem to care about he fact that Leon could see through it. “I do apologize for keeping you so long without any explanation, but we had to closely monitor you in case you were infected”

“So you knew what was happening in the city and still didn’t do anything?!”

“Well not me personally, I’m a scientist after all.” Leon glared. “But now that your all clear, there are some questions I want to ask”

“What are the odds,” Leon leaned forward, “there are some questions I also want to ask you as well”

“Perfect.” Cillian clapped his hands together, “Now, what happened in raccoon city?”

“A lot happened”

“Then start from the beginning”

Sighing, Leon retold the story of the events of Raccoon city. How he first came across the zombies at the gas station a few miles away from the city. How the city was overrun, how there was more than just zombies, but lickers, and zombie dogs, and tyrants.

“Hmmm, “Cillian leaned back in his chair, “what are these tyrants like?”

“They’re able to follow orders,” Leon said. “They’re not brainless like the zombies or the lickers or the dogs. They were sent to kill any survivors and witnesses in the city”

“Interesting,” Cillian muttered, “what was your encounter with the tyrant like? What was it’s characteristics? its build? it’s abilities?”

Leon raised an eyebrow but told Cillian in detail about his encounter with the tyrant. Leon watched the scientist carefully as he did. He took intensive notes and asked questions regarding how the tyrant moved, it’s capabilities, and if Leon seen more than one roaming around. 

“You seem to know more about the tyrant then you’re letting on”

“Not really, I’m just curious about what they are and what they do. They’re interesting creatures don’t you think?”

“No I don’t”

“That’s to be expected, you’re not a scientist. But I am curious as to something you said regarding the creatures in the sewers”

“What about them?”

“You said they were able to produce small little creatures right? Ones that crawl into the human body. Did the tyrant that you encountered possess Ah type of ability to do that?”

“No it didn’t,” leon said, a thought racing through his head. “Can it be that umbrella created those monsters to infect the population?”

“It’s hard to say,” Cillian said, “on one hand, controlling a creature with the ability to turn others is a powerful asset. On the other hand, if you can’t control said creature, then what’s the point. That’s makes me wonder about William himself. Whether the virus was meant to reproduce, if it’s a side affect, or it brought out a humans natural instinct to reproduce”

It was quiet as Cillian wrote furiously in his notebook.Leon stared at the man in thought. He used to work for umbrella so he should know what was going on. Why did he quit? Is he a double agent? Was he a double agent while he was there? And why does he seem almost excited?

“Never mind me Mr. Kennedy, please continue”

Leon blinked and did as he was told, making it a point to leave out Ada as he did. He couldn’t say for sure if she was dead, but if she wasn’t, then the least he could do is keep her a secret. After all, she did help him plenty of times during the night.

* * *

“Was all this really necessary just for an interview?”

“It wasn’t just for the interview. We had to make sure you were all clean and healthy before letting you out in the world. It was a necessary precaution”

“And you’ll let us free after this right?”

“Certainly, you’re not in trouble or anything. I mean, you escaped an infected city, why would you be in trouble just for that?”

Claire narrowed her eyes at the man sitting in front of her. Precaution aside, the way they were being treated was like that of prisoners. They could see each other, speak to one another, or leave their rooms until they were allowed too. Claire didn’t even know if Leon, Aurora, or Sherry was still there.

“Now, if you don’t have anymore questions, let’s get started.. Claire redfield, what were you doing the night of September 23rd?”

“I was in California. I go to school at UCLA”

“And what made you leave California?”

“I was looking for my brother”

“What’s your brothers name”

“Chris Redfield?”

“And why were you looking for Chris Redfield?”

“I haven’t heard from him in weeks. I wanted to know if he was okay”

“Did you ever find your brother?”

“No”

“Do you know why he disappeared”

“No, all I know, is that he was investigating umbrella, and the police chief was keeping a close eye on him under umbrella’s orders”

Cillian raised an eyebrow and wrote something down on his notepad.  “So tell me, what happened to you the night of September 29th and September 30th”

Claire told her story. She was careful not to say too much about Chris. She didn’t know if his investigation will cause problems or if he would send someone to get Chris and question him as well. Though he can’t say for sure what Chris is doing, she didn’t want to give him away.

“What did the police chief want with Sherry?”

“He didn’t want Sherry, he wanted her necklace?”

“Her necklace? Why?”

“I don’t know, all I know, is that he was secretly working for umbrella and keeping an eye on the BSAA”

Cillian thought about the incident months prior to the raccoon city incident. He knew all about what happened in the arklays mountains. Chris Redfield was one of the soldiers that were there. He knew that umbrella had the police in their pockets prior to the incident, which meant that the BSAA was investigating.

“How did you find that out? I’m sure that with the situation you were in, digging up things about the police commissioner wasn’t something you were searching for”

“No, but it was something I came across while running away from tyrants and monsters”

“And did that help you figure anything out?”

“No”

“Then continue”

Cillian clicked his pen as he listened to Claire. So William was looking for hosts that can handle G. The police chief wasn’t one of them and was killed. What was interesting was how William injected him. Claire explained it as if a parasite exploded out of the police chiefs chest... this brought up some implications.

* * *

“Hi Sherry,” Cillian smiled brightly at the young girl, “my, you went through a lot in the in the last couple of weeks, how are you?”

“I’m fine,” sherry said as she looked the man over. “You look familiar”

“I should, I used to work with your mom and dad, though it has been a while, the last I seen you, you were what, 8 or 9 then?”

Sherry didn’t say anything but ran her fingers along the gold locket in her hands. Ever since sherry gave it back to her, she’s found a habit of doing that whenever she didn’t know what else to say.

“What do you have there,” Cillian said, looking down at the locket

“My necklace. It’s the last thing my parents gave me before they died”

“If you don’t mind, can I see it?”

“Is there something wrong with it?”

“No,” Cillian shook his head as Sherry handed him her necklace. “I’m just curious about it. I gave one of these to my eldest daughter, William is where I got the idea from”

Sherry gave a small smile as Cillian opened the locket to a family picture. There was a hidden compartment in these necklaces, one he never used himself as there was no need. As the family picture disappeared from sight, Cillian smiled.

“Whats going to happen to me after this?” Sherry asked, breaking the silence of the room

“It’s all settled,” Cillian said as he discreetly took the vial from the necklace and handed it back to sherry. “You’ll be staying with a friend of mine.”

“Oh,” Sherry looked down

“Don’t be sad, you’ll still be able to see Leon, Claire, and Aurora, but my friend is better suited to take care of you and to keep you safe”

“okay,” Sherry nodded

“Now, I know you’ve been through a lot, but sherry, I’m going to need you to tell me about what happened in raccoon city”

Sherry told her story as best as she could. How she was at home when everything g started, and how scared she was. How she came across a woman named Jill that saved her and directed her towards the police station because everyone was being evacuated there and that they were separated so sherry was lost and found herself underground.

When Sherry got to the part with William, Cillian was interested. She was kidnapped by the police chief of raccoon city, but was saved by William. What stood out was that William didn’t kill him outright but instead, sherry explained that he placed something inside of him. Later in the story Sherry revealed that he did the same to her.

Tapping his own against his chin, Cillian was too lost in thought about this new information to pay attention to the rest of Sherry’s story. There were so many things to figure out about the nature of the G virus and just what exactly these parasites even were.. with the destruction of raccoon city he will never get to see that.. unless...

* * *

“So what now?” Aurora asked as the trio waved and watched as a Sherry drove away to her new home. Cillian set her up to stay with a government official by the name of Derek Simmons and promised Claire and Leon that no harm would come to her and that she would be safe in her new guardians care. There wasn’t much the two could do but accept Aurora’s word that Cillian wouldn’t put sherry in any danger.

“This is the part where we split up I guess,” Claire shrugged as she turned to the two. “I’m headed to Paris to look for my brother”

“That’s a hefty ticket,” Leon said

“Cillian generously donated the money and the hotel”

“Ah, so he’s bribing you”

“Yup”

“But that’s a good thing right?” Aurora asked

“Yeah, despite how shady it is, I’ll take it if it means I can find Chris” Claire said. “What about you two”

“Well I was offered a job working with the government,”. Leon said, “something about my expertise in handling what they call B.O.Ws”

“Are you sure that’s something you want to do?” Claire asked

“Yeah,” Leon nodded, “It’s all connected to umbrella, and if I can stop their plans and take them down, then I’m going to do it”

“They offered me the same, but I said no”

“raccoon city wasn’t exciting enough for you,” Leon joked

“Hell no,” Aurora stated with a roll of her eyes making the two laugh, “I’ve had enough bio terrorsim In my lifetime”

“I understand that,” Claire said as she smiled at the two. “Well, Aurora, Leon, it was nice meeting you two, I only wish we were able to meet under normal circumstances”

“Same here,” Leon smiled

“Don’t say it like we’re never going to see each other again. Keep in touch,” Aurora said. 

The three smiled before heading their separate ways. As she got into the car with her father, Aurora hoped that she wouldn’t lose touch with Leon or Claire. That night, they shared something that nobody else but them shared. Especially with Leon. She wanted to explore that connection, she didn’t want it to end as just raccoon city. She hoped it didn’t end with just raccoon city.  
  


“You ready to go home”

”Yeah”

”when we get there, you cannot tell your mother or your siblings about what happened”

”why? They already know there were zombies”

”but they don’t know everything else. No tyrants, no lickers, no nothing”

”fine”

As Cillian drove off, Aurora couldn’t wait to see her family. There was so much she wanted to tell them about her night. She didn’t know what was going to happen in the future, but that first step was seeing her siblings and her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this self indulgent story. I’ve always wanted to write a Resident Evil story and never had the desire to do so until the two scenarios in the remake. Because that bothered me, so much with how they never seemed to mesh with one another. 
> 
> This isn’t the end though. I plan on continuing this as a series because there’s so much lore and so much wasted potential with the characters and the narrative around it. I also have some ideas I think can work with this series.
> 
> Next up is an aftermath oneshot series that is going to range from 1998 to either 2004 or 2005, depending on how I decide to work with the timelines. 
> 
> But I’m having an issue with the RE4 series because I’m making some significant changes, but I don’t want to do the mainline games, because I also have significant plans for RE5 as well and I don’t want to do RE2 remake, and then do RE4, and then do RE5. I just don’t want to fall into the habit of doing the main line games.
> 
> Either way, the aftermath is coming and it’s just a oneshot series based around Leon, Claire, Aurora, and Sherry and their lives after raccoon city. Special chapters with wesker and Ada will be in there, as well as getting to know Cillian as he’s important to Aurora and her story and those plans I think can work in the series.
> 
> if you want, i have a tumblr, check it out if you want. ask questions, give your thoughts about the series, or whatever. it's not just resident evil either. [Funrewrites](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/funrewrites)

**Author's Note:**

> Much like how resident Evil 2 was the debut of Leon and Claire, I used the game as the debut to Aurora Harris. I hope you like her.


End file.
